A High School Poem
by bluekinu
Summary: It all started in High School, but will it all end in High School?   Ami-Duo-Makoto-Trowa  with possible changes
1. Foreword

Hi All,

This is my fist time writing a Gundam Wing + Sailor Moon fic, let alone a cross-over fic! Gaah! (so nervous).

I foresee this will be a loooong fic, so if you can stay with me till the end, I'll greatly appreciate it.

Some notes to remember as you read along:

1. This fic is inspired by a poem I read before,** "A High School Poem."** Not sure who the author is, so credit goes to her/him for the inspiration.

2. Setting is neither in the After Colony or Crystal Tokyo, just pretty much our time now.

3. Some of you might recognize certain dialogues I will be using here, that is because I've borrowed some memorable lines from some of the GW boys, hehehe.

4. Some of the places in this fic are real, but most definitely some are from my imagination, so there might be discrepancies if you take all of them in the real world reference. (Don't take it all too seriously, ok?) ;-)

5. Pairings: All I can say is that Usagi x Mamoru pairing will stay as is, I love them as a couple and I'll keep them that way. Also, Heero won't be paired w/ anyone, hahaha! As for the others, you'll see as the story goes along.

I guess that's about it!

Comments and questions are welcome. A review would be nice too. :-)

(I don't own GW or SM – I'm just someone who loves them both!)


	2. A High School Poem

_The Freshman child, so shy & coy._

_Admiring stares at a Sophomore boy…_

"Morning, Ami!"

"Morning!"

"Ami-chan, can you help me with Math class later?"

"Sure thing."

"THANKS!"

Mornings at school had been nice for Ami since she started a new beginning in her life – as a high school freshman. The first month had been nerve-wracking and exciting. And for the most part of it, she's hopeful. Well, expect for a certain distraction that has started to bother her at the start of the second month.

The thought of that sent her sighing, it's the least she wanted to think about and yet it comes popping in her head ever so often these past days.

"That expression can only mean one thing." A voice said from behind.

"Eh?" Ami tried to sound innocent.

Makoto came up to her and leaned on the locker beside Ami so she would be facing her, "Been there, done that that Ami-chan." she said, eyeing her teasingly.

"It's not…that's not what you think!" Ami blurted out in defense.

Makoto pursed her lips together and smiled. "If-you-say-so." she winked and headed her way to her own classroom.

Soonest Makoto disappeared from the corridor, Ami breathed out all the tension that had build up inside her chest. It wasn't for what Makoto said or thought, well maybe a little, but more so because Ami didn't want her to see **that**.

From the nearby door that overlooked the school's soccer field, Ami saw him. She knew he'll be there as he had always been, playing soccer with his classmates till just about the morning school bell rings. When she's alone like that, it was okay, she can bear the embarrassment she felt as she stared at him.

"Just like this is okay…" Ami said to herself.

…_The Sophomore boy whose head is in a whirl,_

_All because of a Junior girl…_

Duo didn't mind the chatter, giggles and occasional ruckus along the corridors every morning whenever its breaktime, or in between class periods. Adjusting to the crowd was something he finds relatively easy to do. His bubbly, wise-crack image comes in handy if not almost second nature to him.

"Staring at blank space again, Maxwell-kun?" A classmate playfully clobbered him from behind.

Duo didn't mind, it was how male students tease each other this side of the world, he had adjusted.

"Hey, have you liked someone older that you…?"

His classmate released him, "Well yeah…liking is pretty normal, but…confessing is another thing. It takes a whole lot of courage to do that!"

Duo smirked on the last comment.

"Are you…" then his classmate diverted his eyes to where Duo was staring.

"Is it the blonde or the brunette?"

"The brunette."

His classmate looked at him once, then twice, "Either you're wishful thinking or you have a lot of courage…"

Duo wrinkled his brows, not sure what the other meant. His classmate moved in a little closer.

"Haven't you heard? That senpai is pretty tough. Even the senior senpais at karate club are hesitant to spar with her."

"Yes, I've heard about that." Duo replied as if he didn't catch the concerned tone his classmate made. "And I also heard she's quite a good cook." he added with a grin.

"You've really lost it Maxwell-kun…"

…_The Junior girl in a sleek black sedan (not applicable though for this fic!)_

_Slowly pursues the Senior man…_

"As always, Mako-chan's cooking is amazing!" Ami savored her last bite of the strawberry shortcake Makoto baked for their lunch's dessert.

"How does that saying goes…hmmm….A way to a man's heart is through his stomach." Ami raised her fork in the air for emphasis.

"But that was an exception to my ex-boyfriend." Makoto replied, resting her palms slightly to her back as she watched the clouds pass by from where they were sitting.

Makoto sensed Ami's embarrassment so she looked at her assuringly. "That's over now, Ami. It's ok." And like a bolt of thunder, she sprang up, sat straight and said, "Speaking of which, there's this senior, well…he kinda looks like my ex, but that aside. Ami…." Makoto's green eyes shinned so fervently that Ami need not second guess.

"And…you've gave him something you've cooked?" Ami probed.

"Well not yet." Makoto paused for a moment, entertaining that thought. "But he's got this mysterious aura. He's like this cold guy, but actually his green eyes are quite…lonely somehow."

"Eh! You've seen his eyes **that** close already?"

Makoto beamed, "And have talked to him too."

Ami placed her hands over her mouth.

"Well not talked like TALKED, but in a way yes, a little. We sort of bumped into each other at the laboratory stock room one time. Just a casual conversation, not that much to be honest." Makoto shrugged. "But you know how it is, right…?" Makoto trailed off and her cheeks started to go red.

Ami nodded and laughed.

…_The Senior man so dashing and wild (again, not so applicable, but anyways…),_

_Is secretly in love with the Freshman child. _

A knock on the door has halted the class lecture. The teacher went for the door and as soon as he slid opens the door, revealing the person behind, half of the class went on an excited buzz.

"Ah…that's right! Muraka-sensei told me about this. Let me get my pen and sign this." The teacher went back to him desk and Trowa bowed his head in a nod.

He stood there at the edge of the door, barely moving as he waited for the teacher to come back with the signed papers. His head was slightly bent down, eyes cast low and half of his face was concealed by the length of his bangs. It was quite evident that most of the female students were gushing over his sudden appearance – a wonderful surprise especially for these freshmen. But apparently, Trowa didn't take pleasure in the attention.

The teacher came back and handed him the papers. The excitement eventually died down as Trowa bowed and excused himself. But just as he slid the door to a close, his eyes went to the middle of the room, at the desk beside the window where a short, blue-haired girl sat who seemed to be undisturbed by what is happening around her – or at least to her female classmates.


	3. Thoughts

_**The Diary of the Freshman Child **_and The Journal of the Junior Girl

25th April

He looks so much like him…

Haven't got the courage to yet, he's a sempai after all, but make no mistake about it; this girl WILL get to talk to him.

.

10th May

As fate had it, I got to talk to him!

It's not much though because he seems to be stingy with words.

But as they say, one step at a time!

**_._**

**_2105H, May _**

**_Long thick braided hair…REALLY long, actually… (I wonder, would his hair be longer than Minako or Rei's if he would unbraid it?) _**

**_His eyes are blue, cobalt blue to be exact! (or so they say…)But would it really make a difference if it's cobalt or sea or sky or…at the end of the day, it'll still be blue. _**

**_He seems friendly. I've never seen him without that smile on his face. But he's a sempai though…_**

**_I don't like this feeling, I really don't. _**

**_Heaven help me…_**

.

15th May

Karate club & Home Eco club has been keeping me tied-up that I rarely got any chance to see him…what a bummer…

Then there is this sophomore that has been popping up lately. 'Though I have to admit, I find his courage rather impressive. Not often to do I get such attention from men aside from the fact that they are scared of me…

**_._**

**_2151H, May _**

**_He came from America._**

**_No one has been to his house, but some say he lives in a huge house with a guardian. _**

**_His good at soccer, and has been gaining a lot of popularity too. _**

**_He's Catholic by the way, not that it matters, just saying..._**

**_And I confirm that he's a really funny guy. _**

**_Although, they say people who are good at making other people laugh tend to live an opposite life...I wonder…_**

**_I wonder if you aren't so as happy as you seem to be…Duo Maxwell. (at least allow me to be so casual if only here)_**

.

19th May

If he had been a little less jolly, and isn't younger than me, and looked a little more like my ex, then maybe, just maybe I can reconsider.

He seems nice and is actually pretty charming BUT…I don't think it'll work at all.

**_._**

**_2210H, June _**

**_He said hi…_**

**_He said HI!_**

**_I know he's friendly by nature and I shouldn't assume anything else, but I think I am allowed to be this happy at least. _**

**_And now I'll always be paranoid whenever I go to the locker room..!_**

**_._**

**_2315H, July_**

**_I knew keeping it a secret won't last forever…especially when your friends are like mine…_**

**_I know…I shouldn't have kept it, but it was just a crush. _**

**_It's bad enough that they are pressing me for a name. What more if they found out he's from school!_**

**_My summer vacation is doomed…_**

**_._**

**_2200H, September_**

**_Nothing has changed, it's the beginning of 2__nd__ term and I am still looking over the soccer field every morning to stare at him…_**

**_I think I'll be a good professional spy someday. _**

**_Speaking of which, there's this senior sempai at the library that a lot of my classmates had been gushing about…but I wonder, how can they fall over someone so stoic? _**

.

11th September

I feel awful…had I known in the beginning that it was the guy she liked all along I would have confronted him right there and then and tell him to stop instead of just laughing him off.

Ami-chan must be hurting a lot.

I too should know, it has always been a one-sided love for me…

**_._**

**_2355H, September_**

**_Mako-chan, she's worried._**

**_She's not at fault and I would never I blame her._**

**_Sometimes, things just don't go the way we wanted or hoped it would._**

**_It's a little saddening, but it is just a crush, I know this too shall pass._**

.

19th September

Fate…it's rather harsh at times.

It was clearly written in his eyes, he's in love with her.

But I value my friends more than anything in the world.

I will keep my lips sealed about you, to not cause any unnecessary pain for anyone.

So this is goodbye, Trowa Barton.

**_._**

**_2246H, September_**

**_I think I am doing progress._**

**_Though, it's still a challenge at times not to get nervous, but it has considerably improved. _**

**_I'm getting there. I know I am, hopefully sooner than later. _**

**_._**

**_2155H, October_**

**_I had him to thank for preventing me falling over the stairs, I guess he's not so indifferent after all._**

**_I think I know now why he has a lot of fans._**

**_But I will not get involved with that man, Trowa Barton. _**

**_Luckily, Sports Fest is coming, that should keep me extra busy! _**

.

01st October

I'm glad all seems to be falling into place. Ami-chan told me she's been doing a good deal of progress – yes, I am being updated. ^_^"

I'm doing well now, surprisingly a quick recovery!

On the other hand, he doesn't seem to have told Ami anything yet…ugh, that guy is slow!

And that other guy is still pretty much the same…

Let's hope Sports Fest will save me from this madness!

* * *

><p><strong>What happens when the Sophomore Boy's head is in a whirl…<strong>

Duo: (_head down – deep in thoughts, a pen & paper at hand, but is just staring at blank space…)_

Wufei: _(a few feet away) _"How long has it been?"

Quatre: "30 minutes and counting, 15 more minutes and I'll win"

Duo: _(suddenly jerks his head up and moves from his seat)_

Quatre: "TSK! He moved! …Want to restart our bet?"

Wufei: _(walks away)_

.

Duo: _(talking to himself) _"Ok Duo, you are tired, sooo tired that falling asleep should be the least bit difficult.

_(lays down to bed – 10 pm…Turn…toss…turn…bangs head on the pillow…toss again…opens his eyes…12:10 am)_

"Aaaaggghh!"

.

Heero: "I kill crazy people."

Duo: _(standing at the kitchen counter, talking to himself, pretending to be in a conversation with Makoto)_

Quatre: _(moves silently behind him) _"Practicing for a monologue?"

Duo: "Whoa!...Aahh…yeah! Hahaha!"

Quatre: "What's the title?"

Duo: "Oh, you know that one from…what's his name…Shakespeare? Friends, Romans, Countrymen…that one!"

Quatre: _(picks up an apple, smiles & nods, then leaves) _"Uhm…okay."

Duo: _(hits his head) _"Soooo stupid, Duo!"

.

Duo: "You guys leaving already?"

Quatre: "There's school tomorrow Duo. Have you accidentally forgotten?"

Duo: "I know, but…I'm not sleepy yet…" _(turns to Wufei) _"Hey Wufei, I'm lonely. Stay with me for a while."

Wufei: _(gives him the cold shoulder)_

Duo: _(pouts as he watched them leave the room) _*sigh* _(flashes of her face rushes to his head) _"That's why I don't want to be alone right now…"

.

Duo: _(watching a romantic comedy movie on TV.) (Halfway into the film, the lead characters suddenly changed to become him & Makoto)_

"What the hell? This is crazy, I'm going insaaaane…!"

* * *

><p>AN: Wondering why Trowa's thoughts aren't here? Well, because he's just too cautious nor he has any inclination to be writing it down too, lol!


	4. Sports Fest  1

_(2 weeks ago)_

PA System – morning school assembly:

"Good Morning dear students. As you already know, a week from now, our school's Sports Fest will begin. We encourage all students to actively participate and practice our school's core values, which is camaraderie and teamwork.

Complete schedule of activities will be discussed during your Homeroom class. As for the Festival that will be held at the end of Sports Fest, we have decided to change things a bit. We will, for this year do away with the Freshman-Senior & Sophomore-Junior collaborations and let each level present whatever they like. In that way, all of you can hone your creative abilities and proudly present it to everyone.

May this year's Sports Fest be a memorable one for all!"

Duo: "Aarghh!"

Trowa: "Damn…"

Ami & Makoto: _(sighs and smiles)_

* * *

><p><strong><em>DAY 1<em>**

"How annoying! The could have interchanged the schedules!"

"I knooow! Ugh!"

"That's not a problem for me. I will watch the track & field games, no questions about that."

" I can't wait! I even made a banner for Barton-sempai!"

"Well I can just imagine Maxwell-sempai…he'll be so cool shooting all those targets…"

"But the schedule of activities still sucks…"

_(blah..blah..blah..)_

"Wow…I didn't expect emotions will run this high." Makoto said as she surveyed the girls who were walking past them towards the school.

Ami gave her a sympathetic look.

Makoto chuckled, "But it'll still be interesting how the students will be divided later."

"Will you be watching?" Ami asked, peeping under her bangs.

Makoto turned to her and smiled, "90% no."

The girls continued towards the school's entrance, listening to more rants and raves from their schoolmates.

* * *

><p><em>(Lunch break, at the library)<em>

"Hey, hey Ami-chan. What game will you watch?"

"Huh?" Ami turned to see some of her classmates huddled excitedly around her and dragged her to the end of the book aisle.

"You know, between the Track and the Shooting games." One said in a whisper.

"Well…" Ami stalled, "Both games will start simultaneously at 2 pm but…I also have swimming practice today for tomorrow's game." she bit her lower lip, trying to sound as convincing as she could because in reality, swimming practice won't start till 4 pm, which she can still pretty much watch any of the games.

"Aaww, what a shame…"

Ami could only but manage a weak smile in reply.

"We will split into 2 groups, so if you're interested to know about the track & field game, just ask us. But if you prefer the target shooting game, they'll cover it for you." One of her classmates offered.

"Oh…thanks."

"Well, we'll go ahead ok? We want to get the best seats." Another one said, her voice almost chiming with excitement.

Ami waited for them to be out of sight before she let out a good sigh of relief. It's not much so for pretending that she cannot watch any of the games, but rather, if she will watch …which one? It would have been so much easier if that senior guy hasn't been bothering her thoughts lately.

She tried to shake the thought out of her mind and turned to face the glass wall that lined that end of the library. But what she saw had her heart skip a beat – the track and field lawn was right below her…how can she have not realized!

"Yo, Barton! There you are. Assembly in 30 minutes."

"I'll be there."

Ami swore her stomach just turned upside down. Not only because of the name she heard, but more so because the reply came from the next book aisle from where she was standing. If there was any time she hoped and prayed to the heaven above to hear her, then this is definitely one of those days. She slowly turned around, hoping that when she does, he won't be there.

But she wasn't so lucky this time – Trowa was there, his profile facing her, he held a book in one hand.

If it was only humanly possible to suddenly disappear into nothingness, Ami would have done so. The thought of him hearing the conversation she had a little while ago was enough to feel her body burn up to cinders from the embarrassment that she might just actually disappear into nothingness.

* * *

><p><em>(Elsewhere…)<em>

"Hey, Mako-chan!"  
>Her eyes twitched at the sound of the voice, let alone the casual manner of speech. "You'll come and watch, won't you?"<br>Makoto closed the door of her locker, turned around to face him and held out her organizer. "I don't think it'll be possible." Shrugging her shoulders for emphasis.  
>Duo looked at the page and ran his eyes through:<p>

2 pm – meeting with the Home Eco Club  
>4 pm – finish reports papers, submit, etc…<br>5 pm – Karate practice (maybe till 7 pm)

"Hmmmm…" Duo nodded, "The games will last till about 4:30 based on the line-up I saw. There are a lot of players, plus the girls and boys division will be done in turns, so that'll eat up more time." he added and then continued, "I'll try to slow down my pace and not shoot all my targets at once. I can drag the games a bit further so you can make it." He gave a final nod as if he just made a good plan.

"You really are something else." Makoto laughed, surprised at herself that she found his remarks funny rather that irritating.  
>"Well, that's me! You can say that's part of my charm." Duo smiled at her, his blue eyes almost teasing.<p>

_He does have a point._ Makoto thought to herself. But that's as far as what she'll admit to herself – that this guy is actually charming. Annoying at times, but nonetheless charming.

"I don't make promises I can't keep." she replied, a small smile formed at the corner of her mouth.  
>"I'll take that as a maybe then." Duo grinned and turned to walk towards the south end of the building where the target shooting games will take place.<p>

Makoto stood there trying to figure out what to make of this person while he waived his hand to her as he walked away to the other direction.

* * *

><p>He saw her. She came, but not for a long time. 20 minutes at tops, but he knew she saw him and his jump. Perfect landing of course and he was proud of that, but he was happier with the fact that she came. At least for today he will admit it freely to himself.<p>

* * *

><p>"I can't believe I just did this…" Makoto stared at the freshly baked cupcakes on her hand. One w chocolate cream icing, the other strawberry cream, neatly piped over a base of vanilla cake.  
>"I can't believe I'm doing this…" She carefully placed the wrapped cupcakes over the pile of books.<br>Makoto then closed the door, placed the semi-destroyed lock back into the hole and walked away. "And I can't believe I just did that…"

* * *

><p>"As expected of you Mizuno-chan. 1 min  6 sec." her coach bent down and told her the time.  
>Ami smiled as she swam for the rail at the other end of the pool, but she didn't get out immediately. She let the others finish showing first, the less people around, the better for her as she had been trying hard not to get distracted from what she saw that afternoon. Luckily, the water has offered her reprieve.<p>

But she had to come out of the water eventually, and not for long, the flashbacks flooded her head again. It was just a brief moment that she saw him, but the way he looked as he made his jump was what caught her unprepared. Like a frame by frame scene out of a TV drama or a movie.

_How can someone look so serious yet with eyes that looked vulnerable as well?_ Ami wondered about that the longest. She tried to reason and think things over as if she was looking for the answer that she can never have any confirmation of.

"I really am going crazy…" she whispered to herself as she let the water rain down on her.  
>"<em>It's not even possible to be seeing things frame by frame in the first place!"<br>_And for the next 15 minutes, she went on talking to herself like that.

* * *

><p>"Sooo good!" Duo exclaimed to himself while he savored his last bite.<br>Looking down at the empty plastic box on his lap, he read the note again:

_A sample of what our Home Eco club will offer at the Festival. But bear I mind that the next one won't be free.  
>Just returning the favor that you've invited me to your game. <em>

"And she even knows how to pick a lock." Duo smiled at the damaged lock he held in his hand.


	5. Sports Fest 2

**_DAY 2_**

"And I was looking forward to see Mako-chan's moves today…" Ami sighed.

Makoto rolled her lollipop to the left side of her cheek, "It won't be much though. The girl's division only has a handful of contestants. They should have allowed a mixed gender sparring." she said dryly.

"I think that answers the question why only a handful of girls dared to join." Ami teased.

Makoto uncrossed her legs, stood up and dusted her skirt. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Makoto then picked up her duffel bag and started to turn to the other direction.

Ami stood up as well and called to Makoto, "Good luck on your game, although it's not like you needed it." and winked at her.

Makoto turned slightly around, "And you shouldn't hesitate to set a new record too. It doesn't mean that just because there are senior swimmers you'll hide your true abilities."

Ami gave her an awkward smile, "I'll try…"

"Tsk! You're too nice Ami-chan."

And the two parted and walked towards the opposite direction.

* * *

><p><em>(West Wing – karate competition)<em>

Shouts of fighters filled the gym in intervals of 2-3 minutes as each set of players per division went into the center where a large square mat was designated as the game area. Makoto will spar on 2 different sparring forms. First is the _Sanbom Kumite, _a three- step sparring where the attacker makes three attacks and the defender blocking them and then counterattacks.

She blocked all the attacks and delivered a 2-pointer kick to her opponents' abdomen. And when it was her turn to attack, she sprang with two-1 pointer attacks to her opponent's sides. She had 2 more rounds with 2 other players for which he got 1 win and 1 tie.

The second sparring form is _Free Sparring. _In this set, Makoto faced three other students and the goal is to gain the most points in 3 minutes. Her first set was a draw; neither of them was able to land any strikes within the point areas of the body. The second match she took with a clean 3-pointer to her opponent's head. And the last match almost went to tie but she managed to score 1 more point before the time was up.

* * *

><p><em>(East Wing – swimming competition)<em>

Ami participated in 3 separate games in the girl's division. She dominated her 100-m freestyle, 50-m butterfly and a team relay.

All ended well, and she was thankful that she didn't see him anywhere. It was a stupid idea that she decided to check the audience for him because had he been there, she honestly can not imagine the repercussions that could have caused her.

However, far from her knowledge, Trowa was there. He just wasn't at the bleachers, for someone who is part of the student committee, he had privileges and that meant access to the announcer's booth above.

* * *

><p>"Senpai, can you sign this, please?"<p>

"Senpai was really cool back then! Now I want to join the Karate Club!"

"That's Kino-san for you – 3rd year's ultimate representative!"

Makoto stood there, still trying to process what was happening around her as she smiled, signed and exchanged pleasantries with a group of students outside the gym. Suddenly being flanked like that was something relatively new to her that when they've left, she was still a little bit bewildered.

"Yo!"

Makoto broke into a half exasperated – half amused smile when she heard that voice from behind her. She turned around and saw Duo smiling, his right hand posing a stationary waive at her.

"And I thought something was wrong with you a while ago. You were rather…quiet."

Duo's smile grew even bigger, "You saw me?"

"How could I not…you were at the front row."

His smile went to a grin, but Makoto interjected before he can say anything else. "Don't get me wrong. I was merely surprised. It didn't seem becoming of you to be **that** quiet. But seeing you now, I guess you're back to your normal self."

"I have to admit, it was nerve-wracking!" Duo wrinkled his nose in admittance.

"We had protective pads on, silly." Makoto pointed out, but she was obviously amused.

"Say…" Duo pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. "It would have been so much better if you had signed this." handing her the note she attached to the cupcakes.

"You're making a big deal out of this, isn't it?" Makoto eyed him.

Duo's lips arched slightly to a smile. "Would you deny someone a request as innocent as a signature?"

* * *

><p>As the winners came back from their changing rooms, now dressed in their sweat pants and jacket, Ami was sure that she'll be able to breathe a lot more relaxed now since she survived the tension she felt at the start of the games making sure she hadn't made any oversights that he was really not there. So when the announcement was made signaling the end of the games and the winners, Ami thought that she could have just been mistaken.<p>

"Let's give a round of applause to the winners of today's swimming competition."

But it was no mistake. That voice, that same steady voice – how can she not know? Her head swung up to the announcer's booth, seeing that the lights have now been turned on, she pretty much didn't have any trouble seeing the people inside. And that's the reason why she forgot about the booth, because the lights were closed at that time! And so there he was, standing half bent at the microphone, looking straight at her.

Whether her luck has totally abandoned her or had been there all along, she couldn't really tell. For that moment the only thing she knew is that she was somewhere between reality and fantasy because Trowa was smiling at her.


	6. Festival

**_DAY 3 _**

The school was in a festive mood this day. A bit of change from the hype everyone was in from the recent games two days ago. The general student population was pretty much all over the school grounds preparing, rushing, chattering and enjoying their early start of the day as the school will open its doors to the annual School Festival. All year levels have prepared their own booths, showcasing whatever they had in mind with the aim to attract the most visitors and hopefully win and bring pride to their year level.

Some of the students have converted their classrooms into the booths they had in mind, some have used portions of the school grounds to execute theirs, while some opted to be spectators instead.

It was early into the morning and preparations have well been underway as the school is set to open to the public in 2 hours time.

* * *

><p>"Mako-chan, you're simply amazing!"<p>

The students from Makoto's class gathered around the 2 long tables that were filled with assorted cakes, pastries and traditional Japanese sweets.

"Nah…that's just halfway done." Makoto echoed from the other room. "You guys will have to finish the rest of it." she ordered as she entered the prep room where the others were, smiling.

"Uhn!" everyone nodded.

And without a second to waste, they divided themselves into groups of three.

Makoto made three sets of sweets and had prepared the base ahead of time. The only thing left to do now was to fill them up and decorate.

The first group took on the task of frosting the vanilla cupcake. They need to frost each with either chocolate cream or strawberry cream. The second group needs to fill the tart shells with either fresh assorted fruits or caramel pudding. And the third group had to cook the pre-made _Dorayaki _(traditional Japanese filled pancakes) batter into the molds and fill them up with the ready sweet bean paste.

"Mako-chan, can we get your advice on this?" one student peeked into the prep room from the curtains dividing it from the serving area.

Makoto followed her and was delighted with what she saw. The final look of their serving area was done. A part of the kitchen laboratory that used to be just tables and stools was transformed to resemble the look of a classic European pastry shop with an al-fresco dining feel to it. Makoto gave them two thumbs up, nodding in agreement.

"Uhmm..Mako-chan…someone's at the door…" the girl who stood in front of her pointed to the door behind them. "I think that's 2nd year's Maxwell-kun."

Makoto took off her apron and laid it over the counter, "Might as well make him useful."

"You'll have him work here?" the girl asked, quite shocked but still maintained a low voice.

"Haha! No." Makoto waived her hand in front of her face, "I'll need to run some deliveries." she moved her head a little to the left where 2 paper bags sat at the corner of the room.

* * *

><p>Ami surveyed the redesigned classroom. The 3 walls were draped with white &amp; sky blue linen, the last wall where the windows are was left as is, letting natural light come in. On the windows, small chimes were attached so that when the cool October breeze passes by, the calming sound of the chimes would be heard. The tables and chairs were arranged in a random manner, some by two's, three's and four's and they where all lined with cute animal pattern place mats and a tiny flower pot sat on top of each table.<p>

One end of the room was divided by a string of beads hanging from the ceiling. This room was where the books are stored, categorized whether they are manga, classics, or non-fiction.

"Ami-chan." a familiar voice called from behind.

Ami turned to greet Makoto but was momentarily taken aback when she saw Duo standing there as well.

He shifted one of the bags he was holing to his other hand and waived at her. "So this is how a book café looks like." he said, scanning the room, pretty much impressed. "That was what the sign outside said." he added, motioning his head slightly back to the entrance.

He said it in such a friendly manner that Ami forgot her initial shock and ended up laughing at his comment.

Makoto was relieved to see the tension fizzle away between the two, so she swiftly took the 2 bags from Duo's hand and moved to the other room, "Next room, right?"

And not waiting for either Ami or Duo's reply, Makoto was already at the other side.

* * *

><p><em>(A little while earlier)<em>

"So what will happen if say, Ami's class wins the best booth award?"

Makoto blinked, confused by Duo's question.

"I mean you're helping them out with this." he raised the 2 paper bags he was holding for emphasis. "I'm just saying, won't your class be upset or anything like that?"

Makoto shook her head, "I'm not asking to be credited. I offered to help because she's my friend and that's that. Also, I don't think this will be an issue to my class either because we aren't offering this nor did we thought about it." her voice was calm and sincere.

Duo nodded.

"You most probably miss your friends back in America, huh?"

"Well…there's this and there's that." Duo replied cheerfully so as to prevent Makoto to worry or ask anything more about his _"previous school." _The last thing he wanted to do is to cover up for more than when he's supposed to.

"But aren't you surprised I showed up?" he changed the topic.

"That's been your routine in case you haven't noticed…"

Duo beamed, "You're getting used to me now?"

"I guess you need to understand the meaning of senpai and kouhai." Makoto pointed out as they continued down the hall.

* * *

><p><em>(Back at Ami's book café)<em>

"Uhm, if you have time later, it'll be nice if you can drop by our booth." Ami offered, "We'll be serving drinks too, courtesy of Mako-chan."

"Sure thing! I have a friend who's into books. I'll show them to here, ok?" Duo replied, his blue eyes brightened up with the idea.

But then his voice went a tone lower, "They are from another school. It's ok, right?" he asked, sounding a little concerned.

Ami laughed over his sudden shift in facial expressions, "I'll be okay." she confirmed. In her heart she understood what it was she felt for him before. It was his cheerfulness and casual nature that she was drawn to him. But now that they were able to talk, the initial attraction she felt from watching him from afar has now turned to a friendly admiration for someone bursting with energy and enthusiasm.

* * *

><p>Towards the afternoon, the school was filled with visitors. Parents, friends and even students from other schools came by.<p>

"Where are you? We're almost running low and I can only save so much." Makoto sounded a bit frustrated.

"You're such a worrier, Mako-chan, we're here." Minako replied as she pressed the end call button.

"If there's someone to blame then it's only Usagi…late yet again." Rei said dryly.

Makoto turned around and saw Rei, Minako & Usagi a few feet from her. She let out a sigh as if saying _"I should have known…" _and she ushered them inside.

"I've reserved seats for all, the sweets are there too."

"I'm impressed Mako-chan!" Usagi latched on to Makoto's right arm as they entered the pastry shop booth.

At the far left end of the room, two university students were seated and 5 assorted sweets were placed on the table in front of them.

"Eeeeehhh?"

Haruka lifted her eyes upon hearing the whinny voice and gave Usagi a warm, sort of teasing smile.

Michiru turned to look and waived sweetly at them.

* * *

><p><em>Everyone's here ^_^<em> The message read.

Ami replied with an _OK! ^_^_ and arranged the last 20 packets of pre-mixed flavored coffee powder that Makoto gave to her that morning.

Suddenly, a classmate of hers came rushing in from the other room, grabbing her hand. "Ami-chan, your shift is almost over, right?"

Ami looked at her watch and then nodded, bewildered by her classmate's panicked expression.

"Can you stay a bit longer?" the girl pleaded.

"Is…there a problem outside?" Ami asked, trying not to think of bad things that could have happened.

"Well..it's not really a problem, but…I think we have foreign students outside…" she whispered. "What if they don't speak Japanese?"

Ami peered outside from behind the slits of the hanging beads. It didn't take her long before she found the students her classmate was referring to.

"Well, one of them looks Japanese, though I am not sure about the blonde and the black haired guys."

Ami turned back to face the girl who was giving her the "pretty please" look. But Ami didn't want to get involved dealing with more foreign students as she had just finished figuring out one that morning, plus there is also another one in question…someone very different from the latter.

Ami smiled weakly and clasped her hands together and said. "Sorry!" then she rushed out of the room.

* * *

><p>"Hmm…this one looks interesting." Haruka stopped and stood at the entrance of the Haunted House booth.<p>

"No way! Noooo waaaay!" Usagi protested, grabbing onto Rei's and Ami's arms.

"You can walk beside me Usa-chan." Haruka reached out her hand to tease her.

Usagi shook her head violently and held on tighter to her friends' arms.

"C'mon guys, just this once. I'll be fun!...Hey, don't leave!"

"Maxwell-san…?"

Duo turned to look at the direction of the voice and saw Ami, together with Makoto and some other girls with unfamiliar school uniforms standing a foot away from him.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "Welcome to our Haunted House booth!"

"Now this, I got to see." Wufei commented under his breath.

"But uhmm…why are you dressed like that?" Ami asked, awkwardly eyeing the black tight full body suit he was wearing.

Duo went silent for a while.

"It's broad daylight and your outfit sucks." Heero pointed out to him flatly.

Quatre pressed his lips together to prevent himself from laughing while Wufei just smirked.

Unabated, Duo went on, "Why don't you all go in as a group."

He then grabbed hold of Ami who was the one nearest him to whom Usagi was clinging on to, who is also clinging on to Rei who grabbed Minako who in turn snatched on to Makoto's blouse. And on the other end of the line, Haruka pushed Makoto into the line and Michiru followed last.

"Next!" Duo motioned for the three others to follow.

"Wanna die?" Wufei raised an eyebrow at him.

"Tsk! Such kill joy, you all." Duo pouted.

* * *

><p>The day ended successfully. The students were happy despite all the cleaning needed to be done afterwards. The booth who won went to a 3rd year class who presented their original robotic creations, which they let visitors operate as well.<p>

"What a day!" Makoto stretched out her arms up to her head.

"More like what a week." Ami chuckled, referring to all the preparations and practices they had to go through.

Makoto nodded as she went down the steps. "I'll go first then."

Ami nodded and saw her off.

Makoto headed home while Ami proceeded to the Faculty Room to drop off a couple of books she had borrowed that day to use for their booth.

The school was pretty much back to normal, at 5:30 pm only a handful of students and teachers were left.

Ami reached the Faculty Room and politely slid open the door and excused herself. The room was empty so she decided to let herself in, walked to her teacher's desk and placed the books neatly on the table. She then heard someone come in.

"I came to return the books I borrowed, Sen - …" she held her breath. "Oh…sorry. I thought it was a teacher." she chuckled, not sure if her voice sounded shaky but she could definitely feel her cheeks heating up and her hands went cold.

"No worries." Trowa smiled as he placed a stack of paper on another teacher's table.

Ami stood there; her brain seemed to have ordered her feet to firmly plant itself on the floor and her brain also told her eyes to follow his every move and also up to his face until she finally got control over her brain and abruptly turned her eyes to another direction.

"I uh…didn't see you at the festival."

She had no idea why that came out of her mouth, but it was too late now. "I mean, not for anything specific. I guess student committee members sure have a lot of responsibilities" she added, trying to sound casual while mentally scolding herself.

Trowa moved his head a little to one side so his long bangs would cover the small crack of smile that was forming on his lips.

"I was everywhere." Trowa looked up, the smile was gone but his face was gentle. "We have to visit all the booths, do surveys and stuff…" he trailed off.

Ami nodded and shifted her feet and turned. She wanted to get out of the room fast but since her feet were planted quite firmly on the floor a while ago, so walking normally would seem impossible.

"Angela's Ashes."

Ami's eyes widened and the step she was about to make stopped midway. _"He came!"_ her head screamed.

"That book was interesting. An autobiography, isn't it? Although I wasn't able to finish it…I've had a limited time." he sighed and his lips made a quick smile that lasted for about 2 seconds.

Ami opened her mouth slowly, as if she was deciding if she will react or not. "That's mine." she blurted but soon realized that her tone sounded too possessive. "I mean, it's mine – the book – if you like – I can lend it…to you…"she finally finished, hoping and praying her face looked "normal" enough to make her telegraphic sentence seem not too telegraphic.

Trowa gave her a small smile and a nod. But what Ami hated, **or** at least she wished she hated was those green eyes of his that seemed to express more things than his face could have just expressed instead.

"I'll be right back. It's in my locker." she offered, with the thought of being able to finally get out of the room and just face him later when she's prepared.

"I'll come with you."

Ami blinked, not sure she heard him right. But Trowa was already heading for the door and when he got there he paused and turned to her. "Need to inform you about something anyway."

**"_Inform?" _**the word rang a couple of times in her head. Inform sounded too formal so she convinced herself that whatever it was, it must be school stuff. But as they walked down the corridor, she slowly understood that categorizing the word "inform" as something used only in work related things is completely subjective to the speaker and the listener – or at least to Trowa Barton.


	7. End of Term

_(2 weeks before school year ends) _

"I hope I'm not the reason why you're transferring..?" Makoto asked, her voice sounded between curious and distressed.

Duo continued to look up at the sky as he sat there on the grass. "It would have been better if it was…it would have been more dramatic." he replied quite casually.

"What does that supposed to mean?" Makoto almost snapped.

Duo turned his head to face her, "I don't seem like the dramatic type, huh? So don't you worry, things just came up back home, that's all."

Makoto wrinkled her forehead to a slight frown, not too convinced. But she didn't want to push too many questions since he said it has something to do with family matters. Plus they are not in any sort of relationship anyway, so she didn't see the right for her to probe any further.

Sensing the growing awkward atmosphere, Duo pulled himself up to a proper sitting position, "All is well that ends well…right?" he looked at her directly in the eyes and she saw the kindness there and that he meant was he said.

"Well…let's see…" Makoto played along. "Ami has gotten over you and harsh at it may sound, but it seems like she has fallen for a senior guy instead. **Although, **she has regarded you as a friend because you happen to like her friend who happens to be me, who in turn has asked you to remain as friends to which you have finally came to accept." She paused and took a breath and continued, "And looking at the bigger picture, everything fell into place after all, because you will be leaving and it'll be much better if there won't be any complications here on after."

"Uh-huh." Duo hummed while he sipped his melon juice, escaping the need for him to say anything more about what Makoto had kindly summarized for him.

"Is that for me?" he pointed to the basket that sat beside Makoto, changing the topic.

She took the basket and untied the string and pulled open the cloth to reveal a whole assortment of packed home made food. Club sandwiches, two _bentos_ and sliced fresh fruits.

"It's the least I can do as a friend before you leave."

Duo took the basket and laid everything on the mat in front of them. He stopped when he saw a transparent plastic box at the bottom of the basket. He reached for it and saw the familiar chocolate and strawberry swirls on top of a vanilla base cupcake.

He looked at her and saw her smiling at him. Her green eyes were warm and gentle. The same expression he saw from her at the start, which quite unfortunately, most of the students at school failed to notice.

"Don't smile at me like that. You're making it more difficult." his voice firm but kind.

Makoto blinked for a second.

"Aish! Nah, you should smile. Of course you should! I was just kidding." Duo opened the box and took one of the cupcakes and gobbled it down.

Makoto smiled inwardly and laughed out loud.

Duo took a last mouthful to finish of the cake and reached at his pocket. "Open it when I've left ok?" handing Makoto a piece of paper folded into quarters.

_Four hours later, Makoto was back home. The basket and the food containers had all been cleaned and stored. She removed her apron, pulled a chair and sat near the kitchen counter. Her hand took the paper out of her side pocket, unfolded it and read:_ He runs…he hides…he does anything, but he never lies. – Duo Maxwell.

* * *

><p><em>(1 week before school year ends)<em>

Ami appeared from the top of the stairs as she exited the subway. Her watch showed half past 6 in the evening, she was 30 minutes early. She liked being early; it made her feel relaxed and gave her a sense of security. Since she have 30 minutes to kill and the meeting place was no more than a few meters away from where she was, she decided to take a quick stroll around the area to calm her nerves.

There is as small park right outside the landing where the subway exit is and quite a number of people were starting to gather too, mostly employees waiting for someone or was just killing time like her. The street lights were also starting to illuminate as the sun had almost set.

She strolled around the fountain admiring the twinkling blue, red, yellow and green splashes of light that danced as the water sprouted and flowed through each of the holes. Water really does calm her. The cool evening breeze had lightly brushed her hair and sent the hem of her dress in a gentle ripple along her knees. Ami inhaled long and slowly exhaled with a smile. She flattened her overcoat in place and turned to the tree-lined walkway where she should be heading. But not until after did she make a full turn that she saw him there. The back of his waist leaning on one of the lamp posts that lined the walkway, hands inside each pocket, one leg bent and his bangs concealing the side of his face that was turned to her.

Ami's heart pounded.

He titled his head up and shifted his body and faced her. Ami gathered her wits together and smiled as they met halfway, reminding herself that she agreed to this anyway.

* * *

><p><em>(flashback to 3 weeks prior)<em>

"Actively participating in the preparations, are we?" Makoto asked Trowa, but she didn't look at him and pretended to write something on her clipboard.

"It's a senior-junior activity anyway – quite fun, actually." Trowa replied as he played along with Makoto's _let's pretend _game.

Makoto smiled to herself and moved to the other side of the table. She sat down so she faced him indirectly and pulled out her phone. "Even if you're not really attending?"

Trowa was almost caught off guard with her comment. For a moment there he grew suspicious of her actions. She moved and talked in a way that he too was familiar with.

"It's quite obvious, really. I would be surprised if you will go." she continued, but pretending to be talking to someone else on the phone, jotting down notes as she talked to make her pretence less suspicious. "You have this image to…well, uphold, isn't it? The cold, indifferent, mysterious guy. Although most – if not all of the female senior and junior population are wishing to see you there."

"You included?" Trowa asked, as he picked up the marker and walked to the white board, which was at Makoto's backside.

Makoto pretended again to call another person, dialed a number and placed the phone to her ear. "Not really." she shook her head as if she was really talking to someone on the phone. "I'm betting my bottom dollar that you won't. But then again, that's just me."

"You're still friends, aren't you?" Trowa tested the question while he wrote down the schedules of activities on the board.

Makoto nudged a bind of papers at Trowa to get him to face her. "Ami and I are friends. A simple thing like a guy mix-up won't ruin it."

Her eyes was steady, he knew she wasn't acting when she said that to him.

She nudged the paper again to him, motioning for him to continue. And then she stood up and went at the back of the white board, her voice still audible enough for him to hear. "I won't be there to see to it that you'll be treating her well. But make no mistake – I will get back at you if you don't."

Trowa's eyebrow shot up instinctively. It was quite rare to hear a girl threaten him. If not only that he knew that her intentions were pure, he would have countered her threat right there and then.

"I'm harmless. Just a quiet guy who prefers to stay out of the limelight."

"Ah, but ironically, people like you attracts more attention." Makoto came out from the back, holding a pile of papers and flumps it on the chair next to the table while she balanced the phone between her left shoulder and cheek.

"You have an amusing strategy, but what if that suddenly rings?" Trowa faced her, a small smile to show her she ought not to worry about Ami.

Makoto turned her back at the students who were grouped and scattered inside the gym so she now faced him. "It's turned off." she pointed to the screen, grinned, turned and left.

* * *

><p><em>(back to present scene – Ami &amp; Trowa)<em>

Ami sat at the table she was ushered to. Trowa told her to proceed to this restaurant when they arrived at the hotel lobby and ask for the table reserved under her name while we went off to park the car. The table was located at the left end corner of the restaurant with a huge glass window at one side that overlooked a part of Tokyo's cityscape below. There were a couple of customers too, mostly occupying tables for two like her. She was tensed, she knew that, but she had a lot going on her head as well, mostly questions that her nervousness seemed to have died down considerably.

Trowa walked to where their table was, his gripped tightened to the thing he was holding when he saw her exposed nape and shoulders that seemed to have illuminated from the soft yellow hues of the light above her. She wasn't wearing her overcoat now and had neatly draped it on the back of her chair. She wore a lemon colored dress with a thin strap that went to the side of her neckline over the back of her neck and down to the other side.

She must have sensed him because she twitched a little and looked to her back. Trowa approached her and gently placed the thing he was holding in front of her. "For you." and he sat down across from her.

"Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?" Ami looked confused. "You're the one who's graduating."

"There are times I don't like to be conventional." he replied, adjusting his back to his seat, but maintained his gaze on her.

"The only thing conventional right now is the way we're dressed." Ami was able to chuckle now, her tension was not getting to best out of her even though she had to admit to herself that he looked even more dashing now.

He was wearing a black double-breasted suit with a light blue collared shirt inside, although…he wasn't wearing a tie – to make it unconventional she supposed.

"Care to explain the rest of the unconventionalities?" she eyed him.

Trowa gave a 2-seconder smile yet again; the guy seemed too much of a scrooge when it comes to smiling. "First, they know I won't be going to the prom so don't worry, no one's expecting us at school. Second and last, I'm pretty sure you're aware that I prefer quiet places." he replied, quite straightforwardly.

"So you lied…"

"No." his green eyes was looking at her steadily, "I asked you if you will go out with me at this date, which is tonight, but I never did mention anything specific about going to the prom." his eyes glinted.

Ami pursed her lips, "I've assumed too much." she smiled weakly.

"With regards to the prom, yes." he nodded, "But for the rest, you didn't."

Ami was confused, yet the last thing he said made her insides tingle.

Trowa reached for the menu card and diverted his eyes from her a bit. "I remember someone saying before that it is the right thing for a human being to live as you feel. It wouldn't hurt to try at least once, I guess."

Ami looked at him curiously for a moment but decided to let it pass. She was contented he had explained what she asked a little while ago, plus she's not insensitive to not sense that he has been careful with the things he offered to "explain."


	8. Farewell  for now

"Hey Barton! Class picture will be at the West Wing. Don't go running off this time."

"Yeah, in a minute." Trowa shouted back as he took off his graduation robe and watched his classmates rushing off to the West Wing.

"You want to leave a message?" Someone came up to him and said.

"Oh, class president. Well…"

"They'll most probably be disappointed, but those guys are used to you by now. Although I can't say the same for the girls…"

Trowa looked awkwardly to his side, acting like he really had to go. "My flight will leave in 4 hours…you know how airport procedures are, especially for international flights…" he added, looking really apologetic.

"Yeah…" the guy nodded. "I'll let them know." then he motioned him to head off.

* * *

><p>"Didn't he ask her to come?" Usagi looked puzzled.<p>

"He could have, right? She said the guy's parents are not around so he can surely invite someone else." Rei added; sounding a little bit concerned.

Minako crossed her arms and shook her head, "Not unless he doesn't want to invite anyone…"

"You guys, stop that…" Makoto frowned, signaling to the 3 other girls to quiet down. "He must have his reasons."

Ami who was sitting there with them looking like she had dozed off because her head was bent down and she had sat still for pretty much the last 20 minutes, suddenly replied. "Uhm, he does."

Usagi, Rei, Minako & Makoto immediately turned their heads to her.

"Y-you know why…he didn't invite you?" Usagi asked in the most neutral tone she can conjure while she gently touched Ami's right arm.

"Well…he left me with something." Ami clutched her bag that was sitting on her lap, feeling the thing inside.

However, from Minako's line of vision, or from what her mind had guessed, Ami looked like she was acting a little bit suspicious that Minako's eyes had widened considerably and she started elbowing Makoto and Rei to whom she was seated in between.

"Oh-my-gosh…Ami…she's holding her tummy!" Minako exclaimed, partially covering her mouth to muffle her own voice.

Ami's head shot up; her blue eyes seemed to falter in disbelief.

Rei was about to scold Minako but the look in Ami's eyes made her think twice.

"Eeeehh?" Usagi turned her head from Ami-Minako-Rei-Ami-Minako-Rei-Ami until she got dizzy herself.

"It's…wait…huh…?" Was all Ami could say.

Minako threw her arms on the table and acted dramatically like she was dying of disbelief and heartache.

"Ooooohhh what is that?" Usagi peered.

"Well that's pretty much expected." Rei nodded.

"But I…I wasn't able to give him anything in return…" Ami said, her voice regretful.

Minako peered from her dying position and saw a book with an embossed symbol on the top cover.

"He gave me this. A book about the Roman god, Mercury. He said it fits me well." Ami explained.

"Aaaaahhhh…."

"Yes, that's the thing Ami was touching in her **tummy**." Makoto turned to Minako as she rested her chin on her right palm.

Ami slumped her shoulders and pouted, "I can't believe you guys were thinking of…**that."**

"Nooo, we didn't mean it like that!" Minako denied, trying to redeem herself.

"WE?" Rei protested.

"No use reasoning out Mina-chan, you're too defensive to look innocent." Makoto pointed out.

"But it's not like I was totally convinced myself into believing what I **slightly **thought with what Ami said."

"I know." Ami replied with a smile. "But to be honest, that's the last reason on my mind I thought you guys would think of." she added with a pout.

Usagi waived her hand in the air and said, "Anyway, let's forget about that. It's the first day of vacation! So many new things to look forward to! Just like that one coming our way." her eyes twinkled with excitement.

Seconds after, 5 huge parfaits were served at their table.

"To the coming vacation!" Usagi cheered, raising her spoon high.

"Technically, vacation has already come…"  
>"Why do you always have to ruin my speech, Rei?" Usagi eyed her from in between the towering whipped cream in front of her.<p>

"To a happy vacation!" Ami exclaimed.

"Uh-huh!" Usagi agreed, mouthing a spoonful of her ice cream.

"To love, love lost and love found but lost again and all that's in between and all that will be." Rei added, as she picked the cherry on top of her parfait and motioning a "cheers" to Ami and Makoto, to which the two acknowledged by doing the same.

Minako and Usagi raised theirs in support.

* * *

><p>Trowa arrived at the house 15 minutes late than he had originally planned. Darting off right after the ceremony didn't quite go as he had planned. But that is all over now; he won't need to think about school again after today. He entered the house and proceeded up the stairs to get his things, but as he turned and entered the hallway leading to the stairs he got a –<p>

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

He was for a moment dumbfounded with what he saw. His 4 housemates were there and a congratulatory cake too.

"He's idea." Heero and Wufei said dryly as they both pointed at Quatre who was holding the cake.

It must have been the unexpected "shock" he had that he didn't realize he was being dragged to the kitchen.

"I just don't get it why it has to be you who had to play the senior guy." Duo said in a tone like he was thinking out loud but ended up saying it out loud instead.

"Do you want a cake that badly?" Trowa's expression was rather plain, but his voice was slightly taunting him.

"No, not really." Duo replied quite naturally as he shook his head and started to slice the cake. "It would have been cool to act that way. You know that thing you do at school." he continued as he stuffed a mouthful.

"He wants a cake that badly." Wufei commented flatly.

"You're too noisy to play the role." Heero added, as if adding salt to injury.

Duo looked over his shoulder and stuffed another forkful into his mouth. "I can be stoic too if I needed to."

Quatre almost choked from his tea upon hearing Duo's reply.

"See, even Quatre disagrees with you." Heero pointed.

"Whaaat? You too Quatre?"

Trowa pulled out a chair and poured himself a cup of tea, "But I am glad this school stint is over."

"You can say that again." Wufei agreed.

"You seem to all resent having to go and attend **play **school." Quatre joked, adding the word "play".

Duo turned to Quatre, "It wasn't easy to pretend everyday that I didn't know Trowa. I can't even greet him normally! I feel so neglected and left out…"

Wufei's brows crooked upwards, "Did you put anything alcoholic in that cake, Quatre? Or did those whinny students rubbed their whinny attitudes on him?"

"I'll be leaving before I get to kill a love sick fool." Heero sighed and pulled his body away from the wall that he was leaning on and walked out of the kitchen.

"You're really cold hearted you know…" Duo looked over his shoulders, pouting.

"Now that's an understatement." Trowa smiled as he finished the remaining tea in his cup.

"We'll need to get moving soon." Quatre sighed as he looked around the room, as if trying to put the images into his memory.

"Although I am not particularly looking forward to see that person again."

"But it's either there or…pretty much there still, isn't it, Wufei?" Trowa looked up at him with a slightly sly smile.

"Yeah, see you all at **home." **he replied sarcastically and walked out of the kitchen.

_And in the next 12 hours, the house was back to how it was a year ago – empty._


	9. And they were no longer High School

_(10 years later)_

_Somewhere in Osaka, Japan_

The soft pitty-pater sound of the keyboard was interrupted by the call of the delivery truck that has arrived. It was 4 am and the day's work has started.

"Coming!" Makoto chimed as she rushed out to the back of the house to receive today's orders.

"All done!" Ami smiled to herself and closed the laptop. She's happy that she has submitted her report a day before the deadline, although it has been her norm to be punctual since she formally joined the team 4 years ago. She emerged from behind one of the closets inside the laundry room and went her way out to the reception area to assume her post and start today's business.

Rei came in from the front entrance carrying 3 bunches of flowers that she had purchased from the local flower shop two blocks away. "Granny gave me one extra bunch. I've mentioned "_the family"_ will be arriving." she explained because Ami looked at her quite stunned with that much flowers in her hands.

"It's been a while since they've visited." Minako appeared from the side where the main dinning area is located, "I didn't think they would actually let us manage this _ryokan _by ourselves."

"Well, if you think about it, it has been 4 years since we assumed the role." Rei said, while she changed into her slippers, "BUT after all those trainings we went through – really…" she rolled her eyes with the thought.

"At least we all get to do things together." Ami smiled and then paused, "Well…generally speaking." letting out an embarrassed sigh.

"Breakfast is ready." Makoto's voice came out from the intercom that connected the reception area to the kitchen.

The three girls went inside, ate and readied themselves before any of their guests even starts to wake up.

* * *

><p><em>Somewhere in the Western Cape of South Africa<em>

The air-conditioned van arrived at exactly 10 am. The weather was good; the warm morning sun tempered the cool breeze that came with the autumn season. Wufei climbed down from the driver's seat and went to assist the 10 guests that he drove to the estate.

From the main entrance he escorted them to the main cellar, a 10-meter walk between rows of grapevines.

Trowa was already at the front gate of the main cellar, checking his notepad for today's tour schedules. He lifted his head soonest he heard the guests coming.

"I leave you now with James, he'll be your tour guide for the day." Wufei looked at the guests and then to Trowa. "He'll bring you back here in about 3 hours, so till then, have a great time at Brisbon's Wine Cellar."

"We'll surely do!"

"Later then, Liam. And thank you." a woman in her 50's said.

Wufei touched the end of his cap and smiled to acknowledge the lady.

Trowa ushered the group through the doors, behind it stood a 32-acre property of rows and rows of grapes.

"Here at Brisbon's Wine Cellar, we produce our very personalized red wine from Merlot grapes." he started, playing the role of a topnotch wine guide.

He led the group through the vineyard, showing them the developing stages of the grapes, then through the section were matured grapes were being picked and then to the inner cellar where tanks and tanks of wine juice are being processed to make the wine.

"We focus exclusively on one variety, which is Merlot. And although we have only a single vineyard, we produce 4 distinctively different wines from it. The solution lies in the modern technique of what we call Precision Viticulture, which allows us to subdivide our vineyard into different micro-terriors by means of aerial infra-red imagery." Trowa explained.

"A portion of that process is what you're seeing right now." he added as he walked towards a man dressed in a white lab coat.

"This is Dr. Stowe, he's heading our infra-red imagery system and monitors any changes and insect decease infected areas of the vineyard – if there may be any."

Heero moved forward from one of the two computers stationed in his work area.

"As you will see." he clicked and typed a couple of keys on the keyboard and an image appeared on the LCD screen at the middle of his work station.

"The red color represents live vegetation. This helps us determine the density and the health of the grapes and how well it is growing. Damaged or dead grapes will appear as shades of green. But as you can see, our vineyard is mostly, if not all, is in red."

"Pretty impressive." one man nodded.

Trowa then took the guests to the last stop – the wine cellar where they did some wine tastings to finish off the tour before guiding them back to the main cellar where Wufei was waiting.

* * *

><p><em>(Later that evening)<em>

"You're restocking quite often…" Trowa said from behind the box of wine that has covered his face and gently settled it on the table near Duo.

"It's due to the coming festival." Duo replied, reaching for two bottles and stocking them up the wine rack. "I'm surprised you haven't realized." he turned to Trowa with a somewhat surprised look on his face.

"Well…I don't know why either." Trowa admitted, his voice calm but flat.

"They're here." Heero's voice interjected as he entered the room, Wufei came behind him.

"Looks like it'll be something big. It's not everyday they go down here for a meeting." Duo said; his eyes twinkled with curiosity.

_A few seconds later, headlights beamed into the cellar's parking lot and a black Ford Focus came to a stop._


	10. The Organization

Rei made her last rounds along the _ryokan's _property, making sure all their security systems are all working. Ami on the other hand checked on their guests before turning down for the night.

Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako's quarters are located at the annex building, a small area at the back end of the whole property where guests don't have any access. Rei and Ami slipped quietly into the annex and made their way to the meeting room, a concealed room hidden within another room.

* * *

><p>"Now that's something to look forward to." Wufei grinned, his black eyes showed a hint of shrewdness.<p>

Noin took the plate of sandwich and rested her back on the chair. "That's basically what you need to know for now." she said as she took a bite, "You guys must be excited, it has been quite a while since you had anything of this scale." she chuckled and nodded at Quatre.

"As mentioned, we will be teaming up with our agents in Japan. The set up is still yet to be revealed when we get there, but for now it wouldn't be bad if you'll have an idea who our counterparts are." he then turned his laptop around so the other four can see.

"Five girls and a guy. Not that there's a gender issue, but they haven't had any experience dealing with high profile cases outside Japan. Except for the guy." Wufei added the last comment just to make it bearable for him, but the tone was still pretty much displeased.

"But you have to admit, for a team like that, they've got quite a lot to boot – in a span of 4 years too." Noin pointed out.

"We'll depart for IO-24 in 2 days, right?" Heero asked in his usual monotone voice.

Noin nodded.

Heero then deleted the file in Quatre's laptop, "Then it's settled."

"Anyone up for sweets to end this **casual **meeting?" Duo concluded as he walked towards the chiller.

But the lively tone in his voice didn't match what was going on in his head, similarly to what was going on with Trowa's.

* * *

><p>"IO-24?" Makoto gasped.<p>

Haruka nodded, a smile formed at the corners of her mouth. "Seems like you've all been chosen. Although I was surprised Usagi made the cut." she snorted in a teasing way.

The other four girls gave a weak, slightly embarrassed smile.

"But I guess Chiba-san has a good effect on her." she exhaled out of consolation.

"Nervous, Ami-chan?" Hotaru placed a hand over Ami's.

"Uhmm…it is overwhelming to be honest. This one is really different from what we had been doing…"

"I have to admit, not knowing much about this new mission and the distance and scale this will cover plus working with much more experienced agents…it is quite unnerving just thinking about it." Rei added, her voice undeniably anxious.

Setsuna moved closer to where the four girls are seated, "You've all come this far. Have more faith in yourselves. The organization wouldn't have chosen you all if they don't think you have what it takes." she smiled at them assuringly.

"Oh! Did we mention that you'll be departing the day after tomorrow?" Michiru asked, quite innocently.

"Eeehhh?" Minako panicked.

_Ami sat there, looking a bit lost as she stared at everything that was going on in front of her. However, she didn't actually hear much of what Michiru had said because the faces of the ones they will be teaming up with dug emotions she thought was long gone. _

_Makoto saw the look in Ami's eyes, but for now, comforting her had to wait because she wasn't as calm as she had hoped she would be._


	11. IO 24

"We're going to the boarding gates in a while."

"Alright. Don't you worry about here; the four of us have actually adjusted pretty well." Setsuna's voice was cheerful on the other end. "We just told the people here that all four of you went away on a vacation so we'll be taking over for the mean time." she added in a near whisper.

"And don't forget our souvenirs!" Haruka shouted at the background.

Rei smiled and said her goodbye's and placed the receiver down as she walked away from the phone booth and towards the gates. Makoto, Minako and Ami waited for her at the entrance.

* * *

><p>"<em>Hey…it's been 10 years, right?" <em>Duo typed on his phone.

At the corner of his eye, he watched Heero pretending to be asleep, Wufei standing near the glass wall, looking at the airstrip while Quatre was reading a book and Trowa playing a game on his phone.

"_Yes." r_ead the message that came into his inbox. He was about to send a reply when another message came in. It read, _"And how you suddenly became like a __**normal**__ high school boy, being all gloomy. For how long was it…?" _

Duo's fingers tapped on the keypads like crazy and sent the message, deleting the 2 previous ones.

He then finished off his drink and headed to the seats near their boarding gate."

"_You just have to point that out, don't you!"_

Trowa smirked as he read the message he got on his phone and then deleted it. He was glad he isn't going through this one alone.

* * *

><p>As planned, Rei, Ami, Minako and Makoto took a plane from Osaka and flew for Rome. There they will meet up with Mamoru and Usagi who flew out from Tokyo. Then all of them will continue together for their onward flight to Greece where they will rendezvous with the other group.<p>

Is it really a good idea for you to be eating that much before yet another flight, Usagi?" Minako held down Usagi's arms even before she can bite into her burger.

"Eh? Why not?" Usagi pouted, as she glanced at Minako and then back to the burger, fries and sundae that were in front of her.

Minako looked at Mamoru, her expression was like _"Huh?"_

Mamoru twitched his head, "She's been eating since we left Tokyo…"

Rei placed a hand under her chin, "Usagi had always been like a pig when it comes to food…"

Usagi eyed her, about to protest but her mouth was stuffed with fries.

"…but" Rei continued and looked at the couple intently, "That could also be a sign of pregnancy."

Mamoru almost chocked on his coffee and Usagi's big blue eyes grew even bigger.

"No, no! Hahaha!" they both denied nervously and simultaneously.

"It's not like you aren't married for 4 years now." Rei pointed out.

Usagi suddenly turned like she was in high school again and blushed. "Stop that, Rei-chan." she took her drink and said, "We're planning, but maybe next year." and sipped her soda shyly.

Mamoru abruptly turned his head the other way, utterly embarrassed.

_In the next 3 hours, the group boarded their flight to Greece. _

_While the other group is scheduled to arrive an hour later than them. The instruction was to go to the Information Center at Terminal A – Arrivals and look for a man named Adelfo. He will then take care of the rest._

* * *

><p>The waiting was killing them both. The man named Adelfo assisted them out of the airport and into the parking lot where a private coach was waiting. Here, they needed to wait for the other group to arrive before all of them can proceed to the next stop. If there's any consolation, the coach was very much comfortable. It's a 20-seater air-conditioned coach with spacious leg room and cushioned-fitted seats. A mini cooler, TV and stereo were also built-in and the windows were heavily tinted.<p>

Mamoru & Usagi sat together on the first seat near the door, the two seats beside them were left empty while Rei & Minako sat at the back of them. Makoto and Ami sat together beside the seat next to them.

Ami let out a relatively loud sigh as she plopped the book she was reading onto her lap. Makoto looked at her with a surprised expression on her face. Ami rarely, if never, allows herself to show her frustrations. She caught her breath and smiled weakly at Makoto who was giggling silently beside her. Makoto squeezed her hand gently and smiled, but not too soon, she herself froze when voices were heard at the door of the bus. Ami placed her other hand over Makoto's, this time she was the one who reassured her.

Five men came in and proceeded to the remaining seats at the back. They moved rather quickly that neither Makoto nor Ami didn't have the chance to get a good look at them, and neither of them had any intentions of looking back either.

"All accounted for! Let's go on a joyride!" Adelfo nodded as he took his seat at the wheel, pausing for a moment to add, "Nice to see you boys' again." and then he started the engine.

No one seemed to react but Ami, Makoto, Rei and Minako undeniably noticed that Adelfo had suddenly lost his local Greek accent – plus he had met the five other guys before!

* * *

><p>IO-24 is a code for a place. It's the Central Office of their organization where only personnel's from The Board and the Operations are allowed. Although there are exceptions to which the Central Office would allow personnel's from the other divisions to come at IO-24. At least that's as far as what the girls know.<p>

The trip is a 2-kilometer drive away from the city, a surprisingly near and not so concealed location for an international undercover crime organization's main office. IO-24 is one of the many exclusive villas that are built along a picture square peninsula with lakes and sandy beaches. The peninsula also happens to be an all-year round holiday destination. All of these will soon be discovered by the girls.

"Almost there, just about 20 minutes more." Adelfo announced as he made a right turn to the uphill curb.

Ami couldn't be any more thankful to hear that because the left side part of her body was starting to go numb from seating in that position for the 1hour since they've departed the city.

Trowa seated himself at the aisle behind Rei, diagonally across from Ami's seat as she too was seated in the aisle seat. He very well know why she positioned herself that way, facing to her left rather than sitting normally with her back on the seat – that is so he wouldn't be able to see the profile of her face. He smiled at the thought.

Makoto knew she had to take it off eventually. She deliberately wore her sunglasses despite the heavily tinted windows that pretty much blocked the glare of the sun outside. But the reason she wanted to cover her eyes was because she knew her reflection would bounce off the glass. On normal occasions, she wouldn't have mind, but today she did because Duo sat at the back of them and the though of her reflection bouncing off the glass sent distress signals to her brain.

The coach finally came to a full stop and the engine was turned off. Adelfo stood up, "I trust you know your way?" he directed the question to the five men seated at the back.

"If there weren't any renovations from the last time, then we won't have any problems." Quatre replied in his usual calm and friendly voice.

"None that I know of." Adelfo raised his shoulders and headed for the door.

Quatre headed soon after, stopping by the steps to greet Mamoru. "It's been a while, senpai."

"Indeed it was." Mamoru replied with a nod.

Soonest that the five men was at a safe distance away from the coach, Mamoru was bombarded with questions.


	12. The Mission

"Would you tell us now?" Usagi nagged Mamoru as their group walked through the long corridor.

"That person I've spoken to a while ago, I met him about eight years ago when they were still in their trainee years."

Rei's eye's narrowed at him, "You mean the five of them?"

Mamoru nodded, but didn't look at her, "I am not so familiar with the other four, but yes, they are a team. It just so happens that I have worked with the blonde gentleman quite a number of times."

"You don't tell me anything at all…" Usagi sulked beside him.

Mamoru sighed and opened his mouth to explain when Rei interjected, "Ok, we get it. You're after all, from the Operations Division." she said in a matter-of-factly tone. "Setsuna, Hotaru, Haruka and Michiru had all been quiet too."

"You'll find out all about it soon enough." Mamoru smiled at them as they reached the end of the corridor where a steel double door stood. He had his hand and iris scanned and punched in his identification code and the door clicked open.

* * *

><p>The room was about the size of a corporate meeting room that one would find in those multinational companies. There was a huge LCD screen at the center; a panel of chairs lined each side in four rows – a sizeable room that could hold about 20 people. For a villa that size, this room looked ordinarily straightforward and…normal.<p>

Mamoru led them in. Usagi, being the one who was walking beside him, reached the front row first where the other team already was. She looked at each and every one of them and her eyes stopped when it reached Duo, who upon noticing her gawking at him gave her a cheerful smile in return.

"I know you!" she exclaimed, almost too excitedly, sending everyone's eyes towards her. "I remember that hair." and she pointed at Duo's long thick braided hair, "You're Mako and Ami-chan's schoolmate!"

Duo grinned and nodded, trying to control the laughter that has started to form in his throat.

Usagi turned to face her group, "Mako-chan, Ami-chan! He's the one from high school, right?"

Makoto wanted to drag her out if that wouldn't cause any more damage to what has already happen. She just hoped and prayed that Duo wasn't able to catch the _"the one from high school" _part. But then again, he's a spy, a senior to be exact. And it would be impossible if he didn't catch that – and that thought just killed her.

"Yes, Usagi, we know. We all know." Makoto replied calmly. Her trainings must have kicked in, but her heart was hammering inside of her. Pretending to be calm in front of other people was easy, but in front of this particular group, it took a whole lot of effort.

Usagi blinked, a little confused by what Makoto said, while the rest were either dumbfounded or embarrassed.

"At least we can cut out the introductions." A voice came from the front door. A man in his late 20's walked in; his aura was that of someone in position and his voice firm yet calm.

"I assume everyone had a good look at the profiles of each of the other team you'll be working with." he continued as he reached the center of the room.

"Now, shall we start?"

To the girls, if there was any word to describe the man, it would be regal. His long platinum blonde hair that actually looked more of the shade of white fell neatly over his shoulders, reaching down to his lower back and his bangs were perfectly arranged to fall right up to his nose, partially concealing his eyes. The blue in his eyes was of a shade they've never seen before, like the color of a deep river. All in all, he carried himself like a real man of uniform. Then it struck them, this man can only be the one known to the organization as _The Lightning Baron _or to some, Zechs Merquise.

"Chiba, Yuy, Maxwell, Kino and Tsukino. Left side of the room." Zechs called out. "The rest will be on the right side."

And from there on, the mission teams were formed.

* * *

><p>Zechs dimmed the lights and turned on the LCD screen and projected a number of smaller screens onto it.<p>

"This is an overview of each of your team's mission. The team heads will then disseminate the details and information to its members based on what has been previously discussed by The Board. Of course, suggestions from the members are welcomed." he then turned to the screen and pressed a button on the remote control and a couple of the smaller screens popped in the center of the huge screen.

"**Joker**." Zechs read.

"This is the mission code for Chiba's team." The screen changed to reveal a picture of a man, a country and a couple of places.

"You will need to capture this man. He's wanted for theft, extortion and grave threat leading to possible murder. This one is a special case coming in from our _High-profile Client List. _He sought our help because he do not want any media involvement and would want a speedy process. A very private and personal matter I must say."

Zechs then turned to them, "You will have someone from our UK branch to help you on internal matters. You'll all fly to UK in 3 days."

Then he turned to the other team and projected the remaining smaller screens. "You're mission code is **Black & White**. Your target is to catch one of the biggest illegal groups that have been shipping rhino horns to Asia, and in turn, catch their counterparts." he pressed a couple more pictures and continued.

"Some of you will fly to South Africa, some in Asia. Members who will be assigned in South Africa will depart in 2 days and soonest they've confirmed their part of the mission; the other members will fly to Asia. Our personnel's from each area will be assisting you with local internal matters."

He then pushed the remote to turn the lights back on and to close the LCD screen when almost immediately after called out the names of the five girls.

Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako stood up.

"Welcome to IO-24. From now on your team will be called and recognized as, _Sailors_." Zechs gave them a nod of acknowledgement and a small smile and walked out of the room.

The girls stood there, almost unsure if they've heard him correctly. In their organization when you become recognized and is given a formal team name, that translates to a promotion. And in their case, a promotion from Level 1-Junior to Level 3-Senior spy, which meant they have now entered the senior level of being a spy.

Mamoru, Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru were given the name, _Guardians _13 years ago. They have now progressed and are part of the Operations Division, which have them working directly on planning and client interface together with _The Board._

Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre and Wufei was recognized 10 years ago and was named, _Pilots. _They are now Level 1-Senior, the highest level given to spies.

And as for Zechs, Noin and Setsuna, they are called, _The Board _as they were part of the pioneer team that started much earlier than the rest.


	13. Reencounters Pt1

Quatre who is heading the **Black & White **mission team had more bases to cover for planning and discussion regarding the execution of their mission that they had almost spent 1 ½ days basically with each other. Ami was thankful for that, it kept her mind focused despite the fact that Trowa is in the same team as her.

She hoped their meetings would last until the 2nd half of that day – until the night if possible. She did not want to have any idle time before they set out early morning of the following day. But fate wanted to test her further because the group managed to wrap up everything early that afternoon and she suddenly found herself having what she calls _idle time_ in her hands.

Unfortunately for her, Minako and Rei are assigned in Asia region and that sub-team of theirs had other things to further discuss, while Makoto and Usagi belonged to another team and had their own things to attend to.

Not to be disheartened, Ami's plan of action for her idle time was to ready her things for the flight, take a long relaxing bath, have an early dinner and go to bed early. Though sort of too little of an activity to fill the remainder of her day, she was still hopeful that that would suffice for her to not to bump into Trowa until tomorrow morning.

_Why don't you be honest to yourself? You __**do **__want to see him – talk to him to be exact. _

_No I don't._

_Yes you do._

_You're lying…_

…

_The man didn't do anything bad to you. Sure he came and left like some dashing guy from a romantic novel but it was not like he used you or anything in that matter._

_Things from the past are things from the past._

_You have to face him eventually, so admit it, that __**thing **__from the past is still there. _

_You have no better things to say to me, do you?_

_Ahh, there is. You knew the __**thing **__hasn't left you when you saw how handsome he has become._

_Very funny._

And then she turned off the hairdryer.

Ami stepped out of the bathroom, pulled up her skinny jeans, put on an oversized grey shirt and a pair of strappy sandals and left her room. She needed to be distracted. Staying inside the villa only made her mental arguments with herself occur more often.

* * *

><p>It was almost 5 pm when she headed for Downtown, a trendy area 1-km away from where the villas are built. Downtown is the place where both villa residents and tourists alike hang out. Small shops lined the streets, each one painted and constructed in that distinctively Mediterranean design. At one point, you can even see the beach that stretched along one side of the peninsula.<p>

People are starting to gather so Ami decided to look for a place to have dinner. One restaurant caught her eye as it had this fountain right beside its entrance. It was about waist height to hers and was made from stone. The peculiar thing about it was the symbol that was on top of the fountain where the water came out.

"Looks familiar, doesn't it?" a voice came from the second floor veranda of the restaurant.

Ami most definitely knew who that voice belonged to and she knew what that symbol at the fountain is. It's the symbol of the god Mercury and the one who gave her a book on that was conveniently there as well.

Trowa told her to come up and join him. It would have been rude if she declined so she agreed, telling herself that she was really planning to enter the place anyway even without him being there.

When she got to the 2nd floor, she saw Trowa signaling to her so she proceeded to one of the tables that were set out in the veranda on the other side of the room, overlooking the beach.

"I knew you'd find this place." he smiled. His green eyes shinned somewhat clearer that time. But Ami immediately told herself that it was just the effect of the afternoon sun and nothing more.

"You've been here before?" she asked, taking her seat across from him.

Trowa nodded and offered, "May I recommend for you to try the house specialty pizza?"

"Yes, sure. That'll be fine."

Trowa signaled for the waiter and gave him her order.

Ami didn't see the point dragging things any longer so she went straight to her question, "Tell me about your life since the last time I saw you."

"Not much different from yours, I assume." he replied calmly.

She knew exactly what he meant. The truth had been revealed a couple of days ago – that they were both spies. But what Ami wanted to know is the extent of the fabrication and what was not.

Trowa sensed her discontentment in his answer to her. He saw a hint of anger somewhere in the depths of her blue eyes. "I – we, our group didn't know about your group back then. The school stuff was part of our training, for us to mingle and mix normally for 1 year as students." his voice steady, almost only audible to the two of them.

"The higher ups most probably knew even then." he relaxed a bit and leaned on his chair as the pizza and a bottle of wine arrived at their table.

"Pretty much the same for us, but we finished school like how it is normally done." Ami said as she stared at her pizza. "We were **working students, **if you may put it that way." she added as she reached for her fork and knife and started to eat.

They sat there in silence for a while. Ami ate her pizza and Trowa had his wine. But it was not the awkward silence and not that of a guarded heart. It was a silence that said they no longer need to explain things to each other.

Ami washed down the last bite of pizza with a sip of wine that Trowa has poured for her. He then slightly bent to his right and reached for something on the floor. He then pulled a slim, rectangular black case, opened it and took out a flute.

"This one has no title though. Just something I made a few years back." then he started to play.

It was a soft, calming piece. If Ami would guess, it was like he had composed the tune right there in that place. The gentle evening breeze carried the sound softly into the restaurant and some diners had started to notice and admire either him or the music or maybe even both.

But for Ami it was a trap. A subtle trap, but a trap nonetheless. She knew that later, when she heard someone play the flute or when she hears it on TV or in the radio or even just see someone playing it, she'd think of him.

_I'm going crazy._

She panicked at the sudden realization and feared she would wage another argument with herself. So she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and told herself: _I know my limits, and I know how to stay in control. _

* * *

><p><em>Ami repeated that line in her head throughout the evening until they returned to the villa and until she fell asleep, holding on to the hope that the effect of those words will last her a lifetime. <em>


	14. Reencounters Pt2

Usagi, Rei, Minako and Makoto saw Ami off early that morning to say their goodbyes and good luck's. This is after all, their first time to go on a mission not as a complete team.

Mamoru led the **Joker **mission team. Since they have a more stable target in place, they have only the need to make a quick rundown of their plans that morning and end everything by 9 am.

Heero, to whom Mamoru designated as the 2nd in-command sat at the end of the table and addressed the group, "And a reminder, failure to do your part in this mission is not an option." he said it in a tone that was more like an order, than a reminder.

"We depart at exactly 4 am tomorrow."

And with that their final meeting was adjourned.

Heero left the room first and went off to somewhere while Usagi and Mamoru decided to take a break and go to the beach with which Makoto declined to join.

"I would really like it if you would join me to Downtown." Duo said when everyone has left.

Makoto knew something like this would happen; at least it saved her the effort of having to start a normal conversation with him. Plus she had to come to terms with him – or rather, with herself regarding him.

She turned around and smiled, "Sure."

* * *

><p>A couple of minutes later Makoto appeared at the landing where Duo was waiting. She made a quick stop to her room to get her bag and purse. She thought she might as well enjoy the surroundings, that'll help her take whatever this trip of theirs in stride.<p>

When they arrived at Downtown, Makoto knew she would have fun. In the mornings, Downtown was more of a shopper's destination. Food, souvenir and queer looking shops dominated the street as the bars and restaurants were still closed at that time of the day.

The two of them walked through the first row of shops fairly at ease with each other. Duo then stopped by one shop were antique metal gadgets were sold. Makoto was not up with that sort of things so she told Duo that they'll just meet up there again in 30 minutes and she'll explore the nearby shops. Duo was rather hesitant at first, but then he knows how Makoto hates it when people don't trust her capabilities that she can take care of herself, so he agreed.

She strolled along the same line of road until she reached a plaza where the food shops were. She decided to check it out when she noticed a group of four women crowding a woman that looked like a gypsy.

Unexpectedly, their eyes met. Makoto casually looked away and crossed the street. But in order for her to get to the food shops, she needed to pass the gypsy who was standing right where the end of the crossing was. And soonest she reached the other end, the woman took hold of her arms and Makoto's heart skipped one too many beats.

"I can read your eyes. I can read your heart." the woman said.

Stunned, Makoto was only able to say, "What…?"

"You are in love but you are suffering."

"I am?"

"Don't deny it child, you know what I am talking about." the woman continued, her voice sounded peaceful but also too knowing that it scared Makoto greatly.  
>"He may say silly things, but he loves you."<p>

Makoto shook her head and she started to tremble. She wanted to shout but her throat has gone dry, her head was screaming in protest but her heart was going through a lot of different emotions that a mere sound seemed impossible for her make. The soonest she felt that the woman had released her, Makoto turned and rushed back to the road from where she came. Forgetting about the food shops and telling herself to forget what she'd just been told.

* * *

><p>The drive up to the other side was 45 minutes of utter silence. Duo didn't want to press her for answers as she was clearly upset and a bit shaken about something when they met at the shop back in Downtown. She had also asked if there were any other places worth seeing aside from Downtown. Luckily, he knows of another place and so they drove there.<p>

They drove through hills of olive grove and small family-ran olive farms. A place only accessible to the residents of the villa as it is located further back up to where the villas were. Duo stopped the car at one olive farm that had a picnic area beside it.

"Here we are!" he jumped out of the car and came up to her side and opened her door.

Makoto went out rather slowly, "Hey…sorry about how I acted a while ago…"

Duo shook his head and smiled, "I'm glad you came with me."

"Where are we going now?" Makoto asked

"Nowhere in particular. We can enjoy the day, the sun and the scenery. There's also an olive farm back there." he pointed, "We have a long trip ahead of us so we need to relax when we can." he added encouragingly.

Makoto nodded and they went towards the farm.

* * *

><p>They had brunch at the picnic area where the family-ran farm also owned a small deli shop where a couple of other people were having theirs. It almost turned out to be a good day for them. They had been talking about how things came about regarding their real jobs. But sometimes, things just need happen to change the good mood.<p>

"And there I was thinking all that time you were older than me. You pretty much gave me a tough time concealing my identity because I need to act like a junior to you." Duo laughed at that thought again.

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked.

"It's not a walk in the park to pretend and master all emotions while you're still 15. Plus, you know you're being watched." Duo replied as he sipped his juice.

Makoto's back tensed and her voice changed to a serious note. "So that time – all of those was a joke? And that note you gave me before you left was a joke too?"

Duo was surprised to know that she remembered the note he gave her 10 years ago, so he replied in a happy tone. "Well not a joke, but an order that we had to execute to complete our training."

Makoto glared at him, her voice low and evidently angry, "So you used me?"

"EH?", was all he was able to say. Confused by her sudden flash of anger when he merely answered her question and he was being honest too!

He reached for her left shoulder but she pulled his hand away.

"Oh, a lover's spat!" a middle-aged lady who came to bring their take away bags commented, clasping her hands together.

Makoto turned to her with a sudden 360 degree change in her face, "Oh, we're not a pair." she almost said laughing.

Duo placed his hands on Makoto's shoulders and leaned towards her. "We are trying to work out the nature of our relationship." he said, winking at the lady.

"No we're not." Makoto elbowed his side until he let go. "There isn't any relationship so there's nothing to work out." she pointed out to the lady as if she's stating a fact.

"Aahhh…I've seen quite a number of couples go through that. But that's alright, everyone does." the lady said in a whisper.

"I know you two will work things out." she winked and then left.

Makoto stood up soonest the lady was out of sight and headed back to the car. Her head was starting to cloud brought about by the swell of emotions she had been feeling again. Duo followed behind her. Then he realized what she was angry about. He waited when they were almost near the car, away from anyone to hear.

"I wasn't talking about my feelings for you."

Makoto stopped but didn't turn to face him.

"I was talking about the emotions that I needed to endure and control as a 15 year old boy who received intense training. And when you know you are being honest to yourself to whatever you are feeling inside, you realize that you can't be honest to that person because completing the training and succeeding as a trainee had to come first before anything."

"You should have just stayed away from me." Makoto sighed.

By then Duo was already facing her and when she looked at his cobalt blue eyes, she fought what she saw in them as the thought of what the gypsy told her seemed to be true.

* * *

><p><em>That night Makoto spent a great deal of her time in the villa's gym, exercising and training as much as she possibly can so when she finally hit her bed, she'll be too tired to even think of anything else. <em>


	15. B&W Pt1 Setting the Trap

It has already been 3 days into the mission for Quatre, Trowa and Ami, but their days were mostly spent coordinating with their local point person for tip offs regarding the illegal trade. Until finally today, they got a go signal that a secret bidding of the rhino horns will take place. Trowa and Quatre have posed as bidders and the location for the said activity will to be held at one of the hotels in the heart of the city.

"They aren't so discreet are they?" Quatre said while he made some final checks on his communicator that was disguised as a mole, which he placed on the left side part of his nose.

"Surely not. And from our infos, this agent is biased to the bidder that you will be competing with. They are said to be holding the Asian market." Ami replied as she made a turn and drove straight to where the road to the hotel leads.

Trowa was busy doing final checks on their gadgets when he glanced and grinned at Ami, "Not bad for a female driver." he commented after she made an offensive block and honked at the taxi driver that wanted to cut through their lane.

"All in a day's work." Ami replied smiling, her eyes glued on the road.

* * *

><p>Half way into the bidding, as they've expected, the dealer had chosen the other bidder to which the horns will be sold. Trowa, not wanting to let this long awaited chance of finally getting a hold of the horns slip past them; decided to make a bit of an aggressive move.<p>

He sighed heavily and took off his eyeglasses / spy cam and threw it at the table with just enough force to make his acting believable but not damaging the camera.

"I don't think that's a fair deal." he looked at the dealer, a large, black stocky man.

"We paid a relatively hefty amount to secure this slot for this bidding with the hope of doing good business with you. And now you're telling us that just because these two other gentlemen here was able to secure the first slot, you will sell the horns to them?" his voice rose steadily and as he continued.

"Then why'd you open 2 slots for bidders when in truth you had no intention of selling it to the best bidder between us two?" Trowa then looked at the dealer with dead cold eyes. "Are you playing us?"

The dealer was taken aback as he looked at the two other bidders who he has decided to sell the horns to, and then he looked at Quatre who was staring right back at him, and then he looked back to the other bidders again, and then he sighed.

"No – that's not our intention." he defended, "I understand your point – . How about we settle the issue here, right now." he offered.

Sweat has started to form in the dealer's forehead. Trowa then knew that this dealer is just an underling of someone bigger who is behind this illegal trade. But for now, they have to make do with whatever fish they can catch at the moment.

Trowa reached for his eyeglasses and put them back on, "Let's see what you propose." he nodded at the dealer, his green eyes fixed at him.

The dealer then reached for his suitcase, opened it and revealed a hidden compartment. He took out 4 medium sized zip lock plastic bags. Inside were cut up pieces of rhino horns.

"This horn is from a black rhino, 10 kgs in total." he pushed the bags towards Trowa and Quatre.

"You accept cash?" Quatre asked him plainly.

The dealer and the two other bidders were surprised with what Quatre said.

"We don't play around when we do business. We always come prepared."

Quatre then took the seemingly innocent paper bag from a local supermarket that was sitting between him and Trowa and pushed it forward to the dealer. He also handed him a counterfeit money detector pen.

"They are not fake. You can check."

The dealer immediately looked into the bag and saw bundles of US dollars. He shoved his hands inside and counted. There were 7 bricks in the denomination of 100 dollar bills, which makes the total cash inside the bag, 700,000 US dollars. He then ran the pen randomly at the bills and with shaken eyes, returned the pen to Quatre.

"So you see, we are a very much _**capable client**__. _I hope next time you would broaden your client base a bit more." Quatre said as he pushed his seat back and stood.

Trowa and him left the room first, rhino horns in stow and headed down to the hotel lobby where Ami drove by to pick them up.

* * *

><p><em>(Elsewhere) <em>

A day ago, Wufei, Rei and Minako arrived at China when they heard from their sub-team that the other bidder was indeed the one who was bringing in horns from South Africa to Asia via China. Wufei and Rei was in a pretense of a wealthy married couple who had been seeking rhino horns for its said medicinal power in healing incurable deceases. Minako on the other hand is stationed at the Border Security & Customs office, monitoring the incoming goods brought at both air and sea ports.

"This horn hunting was easier than I had expected." Rei said as she took off the long scarf that was wrapped over her head to make her look as if she had thinning hair due to the effects of chemotherapy.

Wufei maneuvered the car out of the small narrow streets while dodging the food carts and shoppers that crossed the streets. "We haven't really found it." he replied dryly.

Rei looked at him from the corner of her eye and saw a face as expressionless as the voice, so she looked at the road instead, which gave the exact opposite vibe from him.

"I was referring to the fact that at least we are getting actual proof that the market for these horns does exist." she replied quite dryly as well, as if to copy his tone.

To her surprise he responded. "It was pretty obvious we were being sold fake ones. Who in their right mind would cheerfully admit that they are selling the horns when it is known to be illegal?" Wufei said it like he was almost ready to spit in disgust.

"Because I thought that at the most, they wouldn't cheat on someone their own race." Rei mumbled, but clear enough for him to hear.

She then turned her head to the side of her window and started to wipe away the pale colored makeup she had put on to make her look like she was really sick.

* * *

><p><em>(The following day)<em>

"Rei and Wufei are still doing some shopping around and so far all results are negative." Ami updated the two men from what Rei had told her the night before.

"Minako said that nothing suspicious came at her end yet. She has a feeling that if they will ship it there, they would most probably send it together with food items, meaning the horns have already been pulverized. And since the composition of the horns is just keratin thus it is tasteless and odorless, even if it gets inspected, it will surely be allowed entry because they don't have the same properties to that of any illegal drugs."

Trowa turned the other way and leaned on the railings, acting as if they were having a normal day to day conversation. "Have you noticed anything suspicious lately?"

"Actually…yes." Ami admitted.

Quatre stopped halfway into his chewing.

"Well, I'm not too sure. A guy kept on following me until a while ago, but he left when you guys came."

"So you noticed. Good." Trowa smiled. "But don't worry about that. I saw him looking frustrated when we came. He most probably wanted to get to know you."

Ami almost jumped from the shivers that ran up her spine, her face was turned ashen.

"And I was planning to go to the ladies' room…"

"Well…we can…" Quatre can't seem to finish his sentence.

"It's alright. If he's still there, I can handle him." Ami replied, nodding to herself for encouragement and left.

Trowa and Quatre waited for her to be out of earshot.

"You also noticed, huh?" Quatre said.

"For 2 days in a row since that bidding." Trowa confirmed.

Quatre leaned forward, his arms resting on the rails as he looked at the people in the park skating below them. "Seems like they really want every single bit of the horns."

"I think the one given to us was really meant for them. You saw the look in their eyes when they exchanged glances?" Trowa replied, shifting his position to that of Quatre's, "I think that dealer was just caught in a pinch so he gave it to us just to end the issue I brought up with him."

"But surely they could have at least sent someone else to follow us around." Quatre chuckled. "Not unless their boss doesn't take no for an answer and sent them off to steal the horns from us."

"Well they can try, but I won't give up without a fight." Trowa smirked.


	16. B&W Pt2 A Right and a Wrong Turn

"Hey, Wufei! What did I say about this _hunting_ of ours being easy?" Rei called out from the mini laboratory they've set up inside the house. "We got one!"

Wufei's eyes shot up from the papers he was reading.

"It's from one of the shops last night. The one you wrote a question mark over the packet." Rei continued as she appeared at the door of the study room where Wufei was.

Wufei immediately got up, grabbed the car key and walked out of the room, but paused halfway to the hallway, "You said something about cheating someone of the same race, right?"

Rei's mouth almost dropped, she never thought he was the sensitive type. "Well, there's always an exception, I suppose." she offered, trying to sound apologetic.

Wufei snorted in reply and he continued down the hall and out of the house. He knew that shop was different from the others. It was tucked at the back end of the alleyways with no signage or shop name to it; it was just a shop that sold cosmetics. And the more telling part was that the shop keeper even refused to sell them no more than 2 grams and told them to just come back if they see results.

* * *

><p>"You're back." the same middle-aged Chinese lady he spoke to the other day greeted him.<p>

"Please, you need to sell me more than 2 grams." Wufei pleaded.

On normal occasions, he would have puked his guts out before he would even plead to anyone for anything, but then again, today he is on a mission.

"My wife's condition seemed to have improved today."

The lady nodded and smiled as if she knew something he doesn't. "That's nice to hear. But where is she?"

"Back home. I told her to rest, not wanting her to stress her body from this sudden excitement. She really wanted to come though and personally thank you."

The lady gave him a pleased look and took out a journal from one of the many wooden drawers that lined the walls of the shop.

"I hope you wouldn't mind writing your home address and number. We do home delivery." she said, her voice was low and telling.

Wufei can't tell if she was being true or not about the home delivery thing, but he didn't care. For now, they are truly residing in that house they're staying and will soon be out of there anyways.

"How much do you need?"

"I am…actually clueless…I was just told that rhino horns would cure my wife's liver cancer." he trailed off, not because he was acting, but because he really was really damn clueless!

The lady gave her the proper proportions and wrote it down for him to remember. She sold him 150 grams of powdered rhino horn that would supposedly last for a month's medication.

Wufei drove back to the house with the evidence and vital information that could be the tip they needed to catch the importer who sends these horns to that part of the globe.

* * *

><p>Ami can't wait to see Trowa and Quatre and tell them the good news Rei sent her last night. Too bad Trowa called her 3 hours earlier before the message from Rei arrived and Ami felt embarrassed to have to call him and possibly wake him up that late in the night.<p>

The three of them were scheduled to meet at 9 am that morning at the hotel lobby where she was staying. The two men stayed at a nearby hotel a block away for precautionary measures and to lessen the chances of linking her to them.

It was 8 am and Ami's stomach started to grumble. Normally she would have gone down to the hotel's coffee shop to have breakfast, but today, with the especially good news she received, she felt trying something different. She wanted to try this bakery just 10 meters from her hotel. It was popular with the locals that even on the early hours of the morning the lines have already gone up to the shop next to it.

Something was not right. Trowa felt anxious but he can't pinpoint what is. His stomach went queasy but it was empty as he didn't have anything yet to eat. His breathing became heavy too.

"Anything wrong?" Quatre looked up at him who was pacing back and forth in the small space between his bed and writing desk.

Trowa didn't answer.

Quatre shook his head and went back to reading the newspaper when Trowa suddenly jerked and ran out of the room, grabbing his phone with him.

He ran like he hadn't run before. He needed to check on her because something in his gut told him she might be in danger.

Ami happily stepped out of the bakery with a bag of warm bagels and muffins. She reached for one bagel when a hand slipped at her side and held her right arm tightly. Her initial reaction was to pull her arm away and push whoever that was, but when she turned, the sheer size of the man gave her a pause as well as the sudden closeness of the man's lips to her head.

"Don't scream and just smile."

Trowa stopped dead cold. He was a couple of feet away from her. He wanted to shout but with all the people around, it wouldn't be the best thing to do.


	17. B&W Pt3 To Catch the Target

Ami was furious for 2 reasons. First, to herself for not being able to either escape or even put up a fight with her kidnappers, but then again with all the people around back there, struggling might have caused innocent people to be involved. The second reason was how ill-mannered her kidnappers are, not that she expected them to be polite given the fact they have kidnapped her, but the nerve they've got to consume her entire bag of bake goods and not even giving her one!

Soon after, she noticed that the car was veering away from the city and into a more quiet area of the town. She tried to recall the face of the man that was following her the other day, but neither of these two men was him. By then, her head started a swirl of _what if's_ and panic started to creep unto her.

* * *

><p>Trowa had a hard time calming his nerves while he looked for the tracking function in his phone. When at last he was able to activate it and saw the blinking light flash on the screen, his heart rate slowed down and he was able to breathe well enough to make a call to Quatre and inform him of what has happened. On the other end, Quatre has started to organize a team of local agents to be on standby in case things would need to get rough.<p>

"Who are you and where are you taking me?" Ami tried to sound as calm as possible. She knows putting up a fit in these situations won't do her any good. The two men had tied her hands on her back but left neither her feet untied nor her mouth gagged, although one of them was seating beside her and pointing a gun at her. She asked again, rephrasing her question but she still got no response whatsoever.

She then decided to focus on the road, the signs and landmarks they passed by. She knew about the tracking system on her phone, which luckily was not taken away from her. In her mind, it would only take less than an hour before Trowa and Quatre realizes she's gone missing when she doesn't appear at their meeting place by 9 am that day.

Her train of thoughts was interrupted when the car came to a full stop and the two men got out of the car, with her in tow. A normal looking auto repair shop came in sight but when they entered the back door, it wasn't so normal after all. There was nothing inside; just bare space with the exception of 5 huge crates draped in heavy looking cloth that lined one side of the room

"I'm sorry you had to be dragged into this." A man walked forward, revealing a face far more presentable than those two other men. Ami had deducted this person must be their boss.

"If you're really sorry then why don't you just take me back?" she snapped. She didn't know what came over her that she felt bold enough to challenge him. But whatever has caused that, she gladly took it because feeling scared was the last thing she needed now.

The man signaled one of the men and in seconds she was dragged to a corner and was forced to sit down on the dusty cement floor.

"You will be my exchange gift." the man said, his smile taunting her.

* * *

><p>Trowa took 3 agents with him from the local crime department with whom they were closely working with and instructed them to drive to where Ami's tracking location has stopped.<p>

"Sir, it's an auto-repair shop, or at least from the outside." One agent reported as he went ahead of the group. He had driven by the said location in passing just to scout the area.

"No sign of the car used but there are tire marks that indicated a vehicle has gone up to the backside of the shop."

It has been 3 hours since Ami was taken and Trowa had suppressed himself the urge to hastily get her back. He needed to make the best plan possible to be sure that the rescue and capture will be done swiftly and with minimal people involved. They were now only a mere kilometer away from the location and he is very much ready to put an end to this.

"How am I supposed to know?" Ami's voice rose, "I went here with him for a vacation. Now whatever my brother does during his work hours or whatever he engages in is not my business." she lied.

"Hmm…a rather convenient excuse." the man eyed her, "But the two of you don't resemble each other one bit."

Ami sighed annoyingly, "It's not my fault we don't share the same father and that I take on my mother and him with his own mother."

The man was about to open his mouth to reply when Ami cut him off.

"Now what? You will ask why I don't seem to care whatever his job is and yet I came with him."

"Well not exactly…but sure, I think it wouldn't hurt for me to know."

_Oh, shoot! _Ami scolded herself

But when she was about to reply, her stomach made a loud noise that it sounded more like it was crying than rumbling.

The two of them went silent for a second and the man roared, laughing his lungs out. Ami wanted to kick his ass and she also wanted to bury herself in humiliation, but at that time her stomach had just saved her.

"Let me get you something. I still know how to be hospitable, even a bit." The man walked away and disappeared from her view.

Minutes later she heard him swearing, followed by sounds of glass and plate breaking, and then he came back running, a little panicked and a whole lot angry.

What he saw were the two agents Trowa brought along, which had already subdued his two men when they came up to them pretending to be in need of help with their car.

"You! How come they found out where you were when I have not made any contact yet to your companions?"

Ami immediately stood up and waited for the right distance when she can use her feet to at least hit the man somewhere it would hurt. He reached out to grab her but she evaded him and slid to his backside and kicked him hard at the back of his knees sending him fall kneeling on the ground.

"I'll take it from here."

Ami swung her head and saw Trowa standing on top of one of the beams that supported the roof above them. He made a freefall dismount to the ground, landing exactly behind the man's back.

"Give it up if I were you." Trowa ordered, his voice commanding as he pushed the tip of his gun to the man's head.

"Would you really? In front of her?" the man replied in a tone almost mocking him.

"I wouldn't hesitate with the likes of you."

Ami felt the coldness in Trowa's voice. She wondered how his green eyes would have looked then, but then again, she didn't really want to know.

"Do you know how to shoot?" Trowa asked her, his voice straightforward.

Ami blinked at his sudden question, not knowing if she still needs to pretend to be an ordinary citizen or not.

"Yes." she replied, but her voice sounded uncertain.

"Good." Trowa replied as he snatched the gun that was sticking behind the man's waist and handed it to her while he kept his eyes firmly on the man.

Ami took it. Although she had target shooting trainings before, she never really had the need to use one because she's in the Research Division, which never had the need to be using any guns!

Trowa pulled the man up by the back of his collar and held him there as they walked towards the door. Ami was a few feet behind them when the man suddenly jerked and reached for his pocket where a knife was hidden, but only to discover to be spun back around as Trowa's fist slammed into his midsection.

Ami gasped.

Trowa kicked the knife away and picked the man up; yanking him as he slammed a fist against his jaw again, and two more punches sank into his stomach.

Finally the man went limp and collapsed to the ground.


	18. B&W Pt4 Confirmation

Ami wanted to come with them but Quatre dissuaded her given the things that have transpired that morning. And so she was escorted back to her hotel to wait for them.

Trowa and him interrogated the two other men whom they have captured, demanding for information about the location of the other horns. At that point, when they saw how their boss had beaten up to a pulp, the information was relatively spilt without much resistance.

They saw now why neither they nor the local agents had had any luck in locating the storage area of the horns. It's because they weren't near the docks, but instead these dealers have rented a house in the more affluent part of the city, which was rather amazing of them to have thought of as it was one of the last places that could have been searched.

"You almost never resort to fist fights. That was quite new." Quatre commented as he and Trowa waited outside the car after they've turned over the job to the local agents.

"He wasn't with a gun the second time." he replied calmly, "Which I was actually thankful for."

In his mind, he knew what could have had possibly happen if that was not the case. It would mean having Ami see him shoot a person in cold blood.

* * *

><p>Ami stood by the window of her hotel room, her hands gripping the cream colored curtains next to her. She had stood like that for the past 45 minutes, hardly even aware that she had stood in the same spot for that long, gazing out at the passing traffic of vehicles and people below.<p>

She was worried sick. It has been 4 hours since Trowa, Quatre and herself parted, she back at her hotel to wait while the two head out to locate the horns with the possibility of having to engage in another encounter similar like the one that morning.

Her thoughts were momentarily interrupted when a light knock came to her door. Her eyes widened as she heard the voice behind.

"It's me."

Ami raced to the door, yanked it open and scanned his frame for any injuries. There was none. He was alright. She wanted to hug him, but she gripped her hands instead to keep herself from giving in. But her eyes gave her away; the way it shook when she flung the door open was a dead giveaway.

Trowa pulled her close until her head rested on his shoulder.

"There's nothing to worry about. And no need for sorry's either." he told her gently. Trowa, admittedly for the first time that he liked the feeling of having someone worry about him. He knew this was a dangerous emotion he is allowing himself, but at that moment he let himself be normal.

"You're worried, weren't you?"

Ami nodded, and finally relaxed her grip-stricken hands and hugged him.

* * *

><p>(<em>A day later)<em>

He sat there absorb in his reading. The only light he had came from his computer's screen. His eyes moved as he watched the encrypted message unravel in front of him.

_Dealer in SA was brought down. _

_Lead person sustained physical injuries but were not fatal and is recovering. Others were captured with minimal resistance. _

_SA agents took over and court sentence will be announced in a week._

_Counterpart distributor in CN was intercepted at the sea port. Goods were concealed as cosmetics powder and were to be sold in both the local markets and the nearby bordering countries. Local CN gov't & SA authorities had taken action for the court sentence on the breach of international laws of trade and poaching. . _

_A local shop in CN has also been under arrest for the selling of the goods. While a number of counterfeit shops were also put down. Both cases had been filed separately to court and waiting verdict._

_All 6 members of the team were unharmed, although some needed to engage in physical contact._

_No damages incurred to both public and organizational properties._

_No civilians were hurt. _

_Black & White mission, complete._

_(QRW)_

Zechs typed in a couple of commands and the message was erased completely from the entire system. He had a proud smug look on his face and he was looking forward to reading the entire report when they return.


	19. Joker Pt1 Profiling

_1 day after Quatre, Trowa and Ami arrived at South Africa, the entire team from the __**Joker **__mission arrived at London. _

It was half past 11 am when Mamoru and Usagi arrived at the base. It was a typical English house located at a middle class suburb outside of London. They've just met with their client and had gathered additional information and details that would help them capture their target. Heero, Duo and Makoto were waiting for them inside.

"Douglas Dorset is his real name." Mamoru said, flashing the man's picture into the screen of the laptop, the same man Zechs showed them during their orientation back at IO-24. "But apparently no one has seen him for the last 5 months."

"Just thinking…what is the possibility that he's not dead?" Duo wrinkled his forehead as he looked at the picture more closely. Douglas Dorset is in his early 40's, distinguished looking with black hair and grayish black eyes.

Mamoru broke to a smile, "He's very much alive. Alive enough to extort money from our client – just recently to be more precise."

Duo almost fell from his chair, "They're in contact?"

Mamoru nodded. "That is why we have to be extra careful that we don't gain unnecessary attention. That is after all, the primary reason why our client sought our help."

"I understand our client is a well known businessman and is quite well-favored by the business publications. Why then did he prefer to go mum about this when he has the press' favor?" Makoto asked.

"Because soon as this gets out to the media or any signs that there is a police intervention, this Dorset guy will kill the client's family, including the client itself." Mamoru replied as he took his seat at the table.

"That's sick!" Duo said in disgust.

Usagi projected a couple more details into the screen.

"Dorset happens to be our client's Chief Accountant up until 6 months ago when he supposedly resigned from the company. The client has known Dorset for many years and trusted him with that position, which Dorset has managed considerably well." she nodded as she continued.

"However, as it turns out, he only used the time he spent there to gather information and ideas on how to execute his plan. And being a certified Accountant, he knew how to draw out just the right amount of money each time to avoid suspicious money transactions in the company's account records."

"And the threats and the recent money transfer, how long has that been going on?" Makoto asked, her expression was disturbed by Dorset's clever yet vicious plans.

"The extortion and the threats occurred right after each other, 5 months ago." Usagi started to explain.

"The client had noticed discrepancies in their accounts 4 months back. He then confronted Dorset about the same matter when the discrepancies continued into the succeeding 2 months. This led to a huge argument between the two. Dorset then resigned from the company and a month later, the client got a call from him with a threat." Usagi shifted in her seat and leaned over to her left side, continuing.

"The client dismissed him and the threat. But 2 days after, his daughter and wife got into a car accident. Though they came out unhurt it was evident that they were tremendously shaken. At that same time, Dorset phoned the client and that was the time he knew Dorset wasn't bluffing."

"Such a lowlife." Heero cursed between his teeth.

"Luckily for us, the client has been able to record all phone conversation with Dorset as evidence. However, all money that was sent to Dorset is unmarked as he had instructed and tracking down all those bills will be time consuming for our part as we need to get a hold of him quick." Mamoru sighed with disappointment

"Also, the address nor the account to where the money is being deposited is not much of any use, because Dorset has instructed that his payroll account be kept active and the deposits be made in staggered amounts."

Mamoru stood up and pulled the white board and started to draft their plan of action. "Client has just sent this month's _allowance _to Dorset so he'll be quiet for the next 2-3 weeks. That'll leave us to deal with him."

* * *

><p>The other details they've gathered from the client are: that Dorset has been frequenting a certain casino in city since last year, and that he has a love for art galleries and art auctions plus he has an extensive collection of miniature pieces of arts.<p>

Heero led the undercover investigation at that casino together with Duo and Mamoru. He and Mamoru have posed as dealers in the roulette and poker tables respectively, while Duo took the role of a bartender.

On the mornings, Usagi and Makoto visited the many art galleries that were scattered within the heart and nearby areas of London. It would have been a painstaking investigation hadn't it for the inside connection they have with the London Art & Galleries Association. This helped them gain access to the records from each of the galleries regarding list of names, purchases, auctions and events.

Makoto flipped the pages of the record book then flipped it again back to the previous 2 pages. Her eyes narrowed as she jot down the names and an email address. She then went to the computer to check another batch of list that came from another gallery and saw a buyer that purchased a set of miniature glassware just 2 days after the other person from the previous record book purchased a miniature Rolls-Royce. She also noticed that the days of the purchases were done within the span of the week when their client has transferred money to Dorset.

Makoto then decided to narrow her search based on those dates starting from the last 6 months.

"_Please, please be the one." _she whispered to herself as she scribbled two more names and an email address. She then noticed that the last name she wrote had just made a purchase at an art gallery 3 days ago and is coincidentally located where Usagi is at the moment doing her rounds.

* * *

><p>It was almost 5 pm when the girls arrived back at the base. Makoto rushed into the house, hoping to catch Heero still there because she needed him to do some IT investigation, he is the IT guy in their group anyways.<p>

She appeared in the living room and found Duo and Mamoru in their white long-sleeved shirt and black pants and vest casino uniforms, getting ready to leave for their shift.

"Where's Heero?" Makoto asked, almost short of breath.

"Heero?" Duo replied as if he wasn't sure she asked for him.

Heero came in from the other side of the room, buttoning his cuffs with his usual deadpan expression.

"I need you to check something." Makoto moved to the center table, placed her bag on top and took out a couple of papers, "IT stuff." she looked at him with a face that said _this is why I was particularly looking for you._

"Found some suspicious names and purchases that were done during the time money was transferred to Dorset's account." Makoto stated.

"Though the purchases were done by different buyers, there are also 2 email addresses used by two of them, and the last buyer on the list had just confirmed his attendance via email to an auction event to be held tomorrow night."

Heero pulled a chair and opened the laptop. "You want me to check the IP address, right?"

"Yes." Makoto said almost immediately, "If we have a match then we can search where he's staying."

"I'll be calling sick tonight, so you two go on ahead and work." Heero glanced up at Duo and Mamoru, then back to his computer screen as he started to type away and work on the information Makoto wrote. He was going to hack the London Art & Galleries Association's inbox and check for the IP address of the said buyers and hopefully find a match. If he does, he will then track for the exact location from where the IP address is registered.


	20. Joker Pt2 Testing the Waters

Makoto woke up with the sound of a car turning up at the front gate of the house. She looked at her desk clock and saw 5 am – Duo and Mamoru has just arrived from their casino duties. She then nudged Usagi gently, waking her up. She put on a thick robe over her PJ"s, washed her face and went out of their bedroom.

The living room was considerably dim with only 2 lamplights turned on and the heavy curtains still shut close. Heero must have stayed up the whole night because the laptop was still turned on and his vest was hanging on top one of the chairs.

"You take yours black, correct?" he came in from the kitchen holding two mugs of coffee and placed one at the side of the table nearest her.

Makoto nodded as she walked towards it, covering her mouth by the back of her hand as she yawned.

Seconds later Duo and Mamoru came in, Duo being a few feet ahead of Mamoru. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Makoto standing there, slightly facing him with her soft, slightly wavy brown hair untied, which fell a little pass over her shoulders. He almost panicked when he realized she was wearing a robe, but soon relaxed when he noticed her PJ's underneath.

"A welcoming party? That's nice!" he said as he walked in and took Makoto's coffee from her hands and drank it.

She just needed to wait 2 seconds.

"Ugh! It's black!"

Makoto turned to him with an uninterested look, "Because it's not for you."

"You could have at least warned me." Duo wiped the taste of the black coffee from his mouth.

Makoto shrugged and shook her head.

Usagi came into the room with a thick comforter wrapped around her body and over her head – she looked like some kind of a giant insect that was about to break out of her cocoon.

"Did we get him?" she asked, yawning while rubbing her eyes.

"Someone will go on a trip to the countryside." Heero smirked.

* * *

><p><em>(A couple of hours later)<em>

Heero ran down their plan for the day. Makoto and Duo will go and sneak into the house that the two separate email addresses showed to have come from the same IP address. While he, Mamoru and Usagi will attend the auction event that night, hoping to find any suspicious looking man that could possibly be one of the patrons in the casino, or if they are in luck, maybe even Dorset himself.

From the research he did, Heero was able to pinpoint the location from the IP address. The house is on the countryside, an estate outside of London. A rather smart idea to reside to lessen the chances of being found out – but that is, if the person who is living there is indeed Douglas Dorset.

The auction will start at 7 pm till 11 pm and it takes about 1 and a half hour to get back to the countryside from London if he would decide to drive back that late at night. Duo and Makoto will break in at about pass 11 pm since in the countryside, people tuck themselves to bed relatively early than those in the city. They just need to be extra careful if the owner has any servants in the house.

"Can you tell me again why am I agreeing to this?" Duo frowned as he drove into the highway.

"Because you lost, 0-5 in our hand game." Makoto chuckled at the passenger seat.

Duo still didn't look too happy.

"Don't you trust me?"

Duo glanced at her and then back at the road, "It's not that and you know it."

"I may know what you mean but it's another thing if you mean what you say." Makoto replied calmly.

"Argh! You're impossible!"

"Oh don't be difficult and just admit you lost, hands down. It's as simple as that, unless you're getting all too concerned for other reasons." Makoto smiled as she pulled down her black face mask.

* * *

><p>Back in the city, Heero, Mamoru and Usagi pretended to be guests and clients and mingled with the other invited people. Heero and Mamoru haven't noticed any familiar faces of any of the gamblers that came in at the casino to the ones invited that night at that event. Until something caught Heero's eyes, the man who was standing two persons away to his right was playfully twirling his number card as the auction started 30 minutes ago. His face was not one that Heero remembers but there was something on his left hand that he knew was rather familiar.<p>

Finally, the piece that they were waiting for has been presented. A miniature carriage that was designed back in the 1800's made of pure gold. The bidding started and quite a lot of bids were placed until it came down to two bidders, one was Usagi and the other was the man Heero was eyeing. The bid turned out to be quite a show for the crowd as the bidding has somewhat turned into a silent match between a male and a female. Until finally, the man stood up and smiled as he raised his hands to Usagi's direction.  
>"Let the lady have it."<p>

And so to the crowds' applause, it was sold to Usagi.

* * *

><p>Makoto checked the window located at the ground floor at back side part of the house. The space between the window and the brick wall was a mere half meter away. She knew that the window had a good chance of being kept open because it would be nearly impossible for a man to squeeze himself in-between the gap.<p>

She climbed through and made her way to house and to the hall, then up the tiled stairs. No lights had been left open but the moonlight has filtered in through the lacey material used for the curtains.

The second floor was divided into two halls, typical of an English countryside house reminiscent of the designs in the old days. One side of the hall had little more doors than the other, but Makoto decided to go for the hall with fewer doors, thinking that the master's bedroom would most probably be there because it would have been more private and less noisy had there been guests staying over.

She was right. The last door of the two doors revealed a complete living room space, a four-poster bed and just by the size of the room was enough as a give away. She went to the dresser first, silently opened each drawer. The third drawer had a small box that looked like a jewelry case, and when she opened it, a glimmer caught her eye. It looked like a pin or a clip like jewelry that was meant to be worn on the topmost button of a man's shirt. It had a gold cross design in the center and the whole pin was shaped like a diamond with the edges lined in gold.

She closed the drawer and ran her hand across the bottom of the table, just to make sure she hadn't missed any secret drawers. She then searched through the other table but found nothing else of use. Even the writing desk was just filled with a pile of flyers and two back issues of the daily paper. Then she noticed the trash bin that was almost overflowing with crumpled paper. She sighed, knelt down and uncrumpled each single one of them and with the help of the moonlight that came from the cracks of the curtain, she read through all of them.

Her heart started to beat faster when she found two peculiarly familiar papers. One was a copy of a bank transfer receipt and as her eyes traveled to the middle part of the paper, it showed that the money was sent by their client's company in favor of Dorset. The other paper was from one of the galleries showing a purchase receipt for a miniature Rolls-Royce, the same item that was written in the list she saw at London Art & Galleries Association's files. She took a deep breath and moved her eyes to the date of the receipt just to make sure it had the same date as the one she saw in the files – it was exactly the same.

Makoto thanked her lucky stars and slid the receipts to her side pocket and returned the unneeded papers back to the trash bin just like how she found them.

With the evidence in her pocket, she quickly got out of the bedroom and quietly slipped back into the room where the open window was when she was suddenly yanked back against someone's chest, a hand clamping her mouth to prevent her from screaming. Makoto's heart jumped to her throat.

And then in a second, her emotion turned to anger when he whispered to her ear, "What took you so long?"

She grabbed his hand from her mouth and hissed, "Are you crazy? What are you doing here?"

"I was worried about you."

Makoto made an "_Ugh!" _inside her head. "I'll deal with you later. Now let's get out of here before someone sees us." she said in an annoyed whisper.

"There's no one else here but us." Duo almost sounded cheerful but Makoto disregarded it and slipped out of the window with ease. Duo followed but after a considerable amount of time squeezing his body from the little gap that was available for him to pass through.

The moment she was outside of the property, she took the turn and ran, not even stopping until she reached the thick trees and spotted where the car was concealed. Duo caught up to her then.

She was obviously furious, she sat dead silent next to him.

"I checked the rest of the house and there weren't any signs that he has any servants. All the windows at the ground floor were just regular rooms, no bedrooms." Duo stated, breaking the silence with an almost too cheery tone for her.

"That was the most stupid thing I ever saw! Why did you come when you were supposed to be outside on guard?" she said, her voice almost scolding him.

"There had been a couple of cars passing by the street near the house and you've been inside for quite a while." Duo reasoned out.

"I was not even gone for 15 minutes!" Makoto was exasperated.

"And if you said there weren't any other people in the house, then why'd you came in for me when you could have made some kind of distraction outside in case any of those cars was Dorset's!"

_Right, she definitely has a point. _Duo heard his brain telling that to himself. He didn't even know why he followed her inside instead of standing guard as he's supposed to. He knew she was capable of doing the task but he just felt he needed to be near her in case they'd need to make a run for it if Dorset would have been really there.

"I'm sorry." he apologized.

The drive back to the base was excruciatingly silent.


	21. Joker Pt3 The Stage is Set

"Any occasion for the cake, Usagi?" Makoto paused, looking up from what she was writing as a 9-inch strawberry shortcake was placed in front of them at the rectangular work table.

Usagi beamed at her, "Because Mako-chan's suspicion was right! And the sneak-in you and Duo-kun made was a success!"

Duo's heart skipped a beat by the mention of that, although Makoto never showed any signs of **that **incident when they returned to the base and even now. She could have pretty much forgotten about it – or has chosen to pretend to have forgotten it…

Usagi was cutting the cake when she suddenly stopped as if she remembered something important. "And Heero too, he said he saw a suspicious man at the event."

Makoto and Duo turned their heads to where Heero was.

"It's just a hunch. I've yet to confirm it later at the casino." he replied without taking his eyes away from the computer screen.

* * *

><p>That night Heero waited for a specific man that frequents his roulette table. If he appears, Heero would just need to check his hand and if it is indeed what he thinks it is, he'll set up a good winning for him as a present.<p>

4 hours into his shift, the man came, sat and started to bet small amounts at first, testing his luck for the night. Heero wanted the man to play a little bit longer that night in order for him to be able to verify his hunch, and he being the dealer had control over the game.

During the first few rounds, he would let the ball fall under the same number and color as that of the man's, if he would bet a little less, Heero would purposely let him loose. In that way, he is keeping the man challenged and hooked.

It only took Heero 3 minutes into the game to confirm the mark he saw on the left hand of the man from the auction to this man in front of him. The same, unmistakably light brown, oblong-ish birthmark located on the side of his left hand, just a little below his pinky finger.

He then manipulated another win in favor of the man who at that time placed a huge bet on the table. Heero collected all the losing bets and determined the amount of payout he is to give him and as he gave him his payout, Heero looked into his eyes and smiled like he normally does with the other players whenever they win a huge amount. The man was indeed pleased, intoxicated with his luck that night to say the least.

* * *

><p><em>(The following morning, over breakfast)<em>

"No-freaking-way!" Duo's cobalt blue eyes grew large as he almost shoved his face right up to Heero's.

"You better believe it." Heero said with an almost smug look on his face.

"Care to share the details?" Mamoru said as he pulled a chair and laid his plate of pancakes on the table.

Heero rested his back on his chair and crossed his arms. "We have a man here in disguise. Dorset leads a couple of identities when he goes out. One is his casino face, another is his face during the auction and who knows what other faces he uses when he goes to other places."

"Wow…he makes a huge effort to put on those face prosthetics every single day just to avoid being under the radar. Impressive." Makoto said, crediting their target for the extent he goes to.

"It is a small effort to make given the freedom he has been having for the last 5 months." Mamoru said while he forked 2 pieces of pancakes he'd initially cut into squares.

"But that's kinda creepy you know…" Duo commented, imagining the mask being pulled out like some gooey rubber material from his face.

Heero placed his mug down at the table and said, "We need to stage another auction soon. We'll lure him out with a piece he cannot resist."

"Let me give our contact at the London Art & Galleries Association a call and try if we can arrange something." Usagi offered.

"Good." Heero nodded. "I've let him win double the amount to what the previous auction's price item was sold at. I'm certain he won't let another item pass him by this time around."

"You what!" Duo exclaimed, "And how will you explain that the casino manager?"

Everybody knew how much money Usagi had to _pay_ for the last auction's wining bid, and to double that amount seemed too much of a winner's luck.

Heero answered him quite plainly, "He's a patron and the manager knows that. Let's just say the casino has just given him a little token of appreciation."

Duo puffed his cheeks and thought out loud, "I think I should start being a regular at those places…"

"With all the earnings they get at the end of the day, that payout was nothing." Heero sneered.

"You know how much earnings that casino makes in a day?"

Heero looked at Duo with an expression: _I am not telling you and you don't have to know anyway._

Usagi came back from the living room, holding the cordless phone in one hand. "Well, we don't have to stage anything." she beamed at them, "I was informed that 1 day after the last auction; another gallery has announced another similar event. And our has confirmed his attendance via the same email address he used to reply with the last time."

'The pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place." Mamoru said, proud of what they've achieved so far.

"By the way, he'll be Richard Elder at this coming event." Usagi added, her smile turning to a wide grin.

"Want to place bets on how he will look like this time?" Duo joked, which sent everybody laughing.

"Although…" Heero cut in, "I'm afraid I won't be including you on this task." he was looking at Usagi.


	22. Joker Pt4 Close Call

Usagi initially didn't like the idea that she was to sit out with probably the most exciting part of their mission. Heero didn't want to have Dorset see her at this event given that they've just recently went head to head in that last auction. Ultimately, Usagi saw the point and so there she was, literally sitting inside their van, monitoring the spy cams that were discreetly attached to Heero, Duo and Mamoru.

Heero reminded them of the birthmark and to pay attention to the eyes. Dorset didn't seem to notice the fact that he has forgotten to disguise his eyes. He has left it as it is, that same grayish black eyes.

Duo took the role of a bartender again so to be consistent to his casino job in case Dorset does notice him. Mamoru posed as a guest but he will be on the sidelines, while Heero took the role of one of the food staff, tucking his hair underneath a white bandana. As for Makoto, she will play the role of one of the hosts for the evening. It may be due to Usagi's frustration that she ended up wearing something Usagi had pushed her to wear, a sleeveless pale silk lavender dress that had 2 layers of lace ruffles toward the hem, while the neckline was cut to a scoop, 3 inches down from her collarbone.

The event started at exactly 7 pm but Dorset hasn't arrived nor nowhere to be found. But as they say, patience is a virtue and they were rewarded when Usagi contacted them through their communicators that a gentleman has just come in at the entrance of the event hall. And that he had that _"I'm late!" _expression on his face.

True enough, a man who looked like in his early 50's with ash grey hair who wore a black trouser with a brown coat came in the room. He searched the area and looked for a suitable place among the many tables that were arranged out in the middle of the room. He decided to go to the right side where a table was occupied by only one gentleman in his 60's.

Heero waited for him to regain his composure before he walked towards him. His head a bit lowered as he offered the man a glass of champagne and assorted canapés. The man did not even bother to look at him when he got a glass of champagne and took a couple of canapés; his attention was glued to the auction and to the piece of paper that contained the list of the classic pieces to be auctioned that night.

Heero went back to his station and from behind the double doors leading to the prep room; he radioed to everyone the confirmation. The man was indeed Dorset.

Dorset had only one reason why he was there, to get a hold of the 18th century miniature doll house that was crafted by one of the famous English artisans at that time. It was arranged that the 5 classic pieces will be auctioned at separate times during the course of the evening and as the event was nearing the second half, 3 of the 5 pieces were sold. The doll house and another piece was showed to the guests soon after, and the guests welcomed it with a rousing response.

"Now, now settle down." Makoto chuckled as she moved to the glass cases where the 2 items are displayed. "We will be auctioning these 2 pieces during the second half of our event, but for the mean time, please allow us to take a short break and offer you an array of scrumptious food and drinks at our food station."

The guests gathered themselves to dine, chat and freshen up. While two men in black suits rolled the glass cases out of the stage and into a secured room Dorset heard a lot of chitchats from the other guests on how much they loved the doll house and some even assumed on the starting bid and how much they are willing to pay for it, and Dorset was not one bit happy about that.

Mamoru was keeping an eye on him when he saw him enter the male restroom. A few minutes later just when a man in a brown coat was coming out of the restroom, a group of excited ladies came out just about the same time as the man did, almost blocking Mamoru's view of him.

The male host signaled for everyone that the auction will resume in 25 minutes. Makoto heard the announcement from her dressing room so she took her note card and headed to the stage. On the way, she stopped by the room where the last 2 classic pieces were kept and checked if all was okay. She then saw one of the staff who was in a black suit standing in front of the room.

"Excuse me, have you gone in to check?" she asked as she approached him.

The man turned around to face her and calmly replied, "Yes that's right."

Makoto's heart stopped. Her hands went cold as she saw the grayish black eyes **and **the exact same pin like jewelry she saw at Dorset's drawer, which was now worn by this man in front of her. She pretended to cleared her throat and recalled what Heero has confirmed that Dorset was wearing a brown coat, not black! Her mind raced, thinking of the possibility if there could have been a mistake. And if there was, she needed to inform the others – fast.

She didn't notice that the man had walked up to her until she heard his voice, "You okay, miss?" reaching up a hand to her.

Makoto caught a glance of his left hand as it moved toward her, and there it was, the birthmark

* * *

><p>Mamoru scanned the room but Dorset was nowhere to be found. He radioed everyone to be on the lookout as there is only 10 minutes left before the auctioned resumes.<p>

Makoto heard that clear, as if she did not need anymore confirmations than what was already have in front of her. She looked up and smiled, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm fine now. Must be the jitters, still can't seem to shake them all off completely." and she casually backed away and turned to the direction of the stage.

In his head, Dorset wondered if she realized that he was not part of the staff and is just pretending to go on about her way and report him afterwards. He can't afford to let that happen. He wanted that doll house and he'll get it by stalling the event so he can go back and change into his brown coat and make his way back to his seat. But in order to do that, he needs to knock her unconscious for at least a moment.

"But you don't look so –" he grabbed Makoto by the shoulder, his hand fisted, ready to hit her.

Makoto saw it almost immediately and dodged it right in time. She turned her body to the other direction to intercept the next punch with her hand.

Dorset threw another punch but tripped over when it landed in the air, grabbing Makoto by her shoulders as he lost his balance sending them both on the floor with a thud. Makoto pushed him away but his weight had pinned her right arm squarely on the floor.

Dorset only intended to hit the wind out of her but he didn't expect she will put up a fight. Panic stricken, he placed his hands around her neck and tried to strangle her. Makoto had only her left hand to use but with some luck, she was able to press her communicator's speech button by the wriggling she made and screamed with what voice she had left as Dorset's hands was on her throat.

Usagi, Mamoru, Heero and Duo stopped cold as they heard her voice on their communicators. Not a second to loose, Duo ran to the backstage, that's the first place Makoto could possibly be since she was supposed to be back on stage from the break. He ran like hell in search for her.

Makoto fought with his fingers, trying to pull them loose and kicking her legs beneath him. But with only one hand to use and pinned down, she was loosing her strength fast. A haze was already clouding her eyes and she was almost out of breath.

Duo came around the hallway and saw Makoto on the floor with a man on top of her – strangling her. He ran down the hall and screamed as he charged towards him, knocking him across the other side. Duo reached for him and started pounding him. He wanted to knock the hell out of him, not to kill him, but at that moment he did not care if he did end up killing him. Dorset had hurt – almost killed Makoto, he had to pay, that was the only thing in his mind at that moment.

Seconds later Duo had to be pulled off from Dorset by Mamoru and Heero. There were others present too, the staff who rushed and followed them when they scrambled out to look for Makoto.

Usagi had helped Makoto to a seating position who was already feeling much better. Dorset's mask was mangled out of his face by Duo's relentless punches and was now knocked out on the other side of the floor.

"I don't think we will have the pleasure of pulling out his mask now." Makoto said in a faint voice but managed to chuckle scratchily.

Duo exhaled, the sound was a mix between relief and fear.

Makoto smiled at him weakly and then he noticed the reddish mark around her neck.

He got to his feet almost in a jump and pulled her to him as tears started to fall from his eyes.

* * *

><p><em>(A day later) <em>

DECODING COMPLETE…MESSAGE INITIALIZING…DONE

Setsuna leaned forward, propping her right elbow on the table and rested her chin at the back of her hand.

_Target captured and turned over to the authorities with directives from the client. _

_Client has arranged for a special hearing of the case and has submitted the other evidences pertaining to the threats and extortion. _

_Media has been fed with a simple explanation of a robbery attempt and the incident died down 2 days later. _

_The case is being treated with utmost privacy and the verdict will go down tomorrow. It'll most likely be a 20-year non-bailable sentence at the maximum with payments for damages cause._

_Mission status: complete _

_Casualties: none_

_Damages: none of value_

_Other remarks: A member has sustained minor bruises but has already recovered without any repercussions. _

_(C, M)_

Setsuna leaned back against her chair and dialed a number on her mobile phone. After 2 rings someone answered and Setsuna said, "I trust you've already read it?" she smiled proudly as she clicked the DESTROY FILE button and watched the message disintegrate into the screen


	23. Rewritting the High School Poem

The two teams have returned to IO-24 to formally report all the details that has transpired during each of their mission. The **Black and White **team arrived 2 days earlier than the **Joker **team who had only arrived that morning from London.

However for Ami, Rei, Minako, Usagi and Makoto's excitement to see each other again and share their stories had to wait. Zechs scheduled the final reporting that afternoon, which left little time to almost none for them to spare among themselves.

* * *

><p><em>(Dining room, 11:30 am)<em>

"Would you like me to set it up for you?" Ami smiled, motioning her head at the laptop in front of Mamoru.

"Ah, well…"

"I don't mind." she shook her head lightly. "You guys should at least be able to eat a proper meal uhm…properly."

Mamoru made one last check and then pulled the thumb drive out of the slot and handed it to her. "I would be most thankful, Ami."

"He sure can be tough with the schedules at times." Quatre joined the conversation, taking a seat across from Mamoru at the long dining table that stood at the center of the room.

Mamoru nodded, "But it is a good practice for them to be on their toes." he moved his head to the buffet table where Usagi, Rei, Makoto and Minako were.

"He's really a _Guardian, _huh Ami-chan?" Quatre looked at her.

"Like an older brother the 5 of us never had." she replied jokingly, finishing the cream puff on her plate.

"I mean the four us." she corrected almost immediately, pursing her lips to a coy smile, referring to the fact that Usagi is no longer counted as she is his wife.

Mamoru looked away while he sipped his tea.

"Mamo-chan, aren't you getting yours?" Usagi appeared beside him, holding two platefuls of food.

He nodded and pushed his chair and stood up. Usagi, Rei, Minako and Makoto took their seats right beside each other at the long table. Not for long Wufei and Heero joined and took the seats opposite them.

"You're done, Ami?" Rei paused in cutting her steak.

"Uhn." Ami nodded and gathered her empty plate and glass and pushed her seat away from the table. "We'll be setting up the conference room."

"We?" Minako echoed, turning her head to look at her.

"Trowa and I will be setting it up." she replied in a most casual way that it sounded like a fact that needs no further explanations.

Minako was not quite convinced, but she didn't know what to clarify either and so she ended up nodding indeterminately to Ami.

"Someone's escaping and doesn't want to be interrogated." Wufei said underneath his breath.

"Escaping..?" Rei blinked, looking at him somewhat puzzled.

Mamoru came back with his plate and took his seat, "I heard you guys had a fun time chasing your target." he said, addressing the question to the **Black and White **team.

"We did." Quatre's blue eyes glinted and the corners of his mouth had curved up to a smile.

That made Rei realize they're missing a member and just right on time, she turned her head and saw Trowa with Ami heading out of the room.

* * *

><p>"I want to ask you a question – a question I haven't asked since we saw each other again."<p>

Ami looked at him. His expression calm and if she saw it correctly, it seemed like he was actually smiling, a very small one though, but a smile still.

"You seem to be in a good mood these days." she joked. "You're not so stoic now."

He let out a brief, sort of laugh and looked at her.

"Is it an important question?" Ami eyed him.

"Very important." his face turned serious so suddenly that Ami found it amusing she ended up laughing.

"About falling in love."

She looked at him when he said it, checking his expression. And she saw his eyes were steady, but not cold – it was surprisingly peaceful.

She then looked straight back at the hallway they were walking through and answered.

"It's risky falling in love. I've been in love before. It can change you and your perspective in ways you yourself would be surprised. At first you think about the person for 5 minutes and forget them for the half of the day. But then you get used to that person and you begin to depend on them. Now you think about the person for half the day and forget them for 5 minutes." she paused.

"And when you realize that, you ask your brain if that is logical. But in the end your answer will always be partial in favor to your heart. And if that person is not there, you feel like you're broken and can't seem to get a fix. It'll really drive you insane."

"What an unpleasant way to put it." Trowa replied, his voice sounded like he'd just given an assessment to an observation.

"That's why we should only love those who can stay near us." Ami replied, she was now looking at him.

Trowa turned to her, "Are you aware that once you're _**in **_this organization, there is no out." he stated quite matter-of-factly.

Ami turned her head back to the hallway and smiled, "Hmm…I need to confirm that with _The Board, _then."

* * *

><p>Makoto headed for the conference room, carrying the small leather satchel on her left hand, the incident at the dining room a couple of minutes ago was playing in her head.<p>

She had known Usagi and Mamoru for years now and had seen their small arguments every now and then, primarily either due to Usagi's clumsiness or her forgetfulness. And just a while ago it happened again when Usagi forgot the satchel Mamoru has told her to bring along, which then brought her to volunteer to get the satchel from their room and stop the argument that was already brewing. But despite all those, she admires the two dearly. Ironic as it may seem, but those small arguments seem to hold the two together in ways she can only be amazed with.

She took a left turn at the second corner of the long corridor to cut her walk shirt to the conference room, passing via the front drive of the villa instead. She stopped in her tracks, not expecting to see him, but she didn't turn around either.

Duo was most probably waiting for Adelfo to drive him down to the airport as he is scheduled to leave for a new mission. She heard about it just before they were to leave their base in London for their flight back to IO-24. And that made it more impossible for them to have a talk as he went straight to Zech's office to receive his new instructions when they arrived at the villa.

"Mako-chan!" Duo called out when he noticed her. He waived at her with his usual cheery self and was already approaching her.

"Too bad I won't be seeing you guys receive your pin."

Makoto blinked.

"That satchel you're holding. The pins are there."

She looked at the satchel and then looked at him, she was totally confused.

Realizing he had said something he shouldn't have, Duo mouthed the word, _"Damn!"_

"Ah, never mind! I almost killed the surprise."

A smile broke on Makoto's lips because that was all she can think of doing at that moment. She can't decide with the million things that were going on her head what to reply to him. And when she finally did, it was the most obvious and the lamest reply one could say. She wanted to hit herself for that.

"You're leaving."

"Yup, need to catch the flight departing in 4 hours." Duo replied. His tone was how it usually is – perky. But Makoto caught a momentarily flash of a different emotion in his eyes for a few seconds, and it was the look of someone who's waiting.

She wanted to tell him everything she's feeling.

Everything. Her fears and her hopes.

But she can't make herself pour everything out to him right then. Not now that there are a lot of things at hand that is more important. Like he's leaving in a couple of minutes to catch his flight, he has a new mission ahead to focus on and she needed to get to the conference room, soon. And at the end of the day, eventually, all will need to go back to its normal state, although she doubt it if things would be back to how it was.

"Duo –."

"Yes?" his voice was gentle.

"Nothing – I mean, goodluck." she quickly corrected. "Goodluck and take care." she pursed her lips together to form a smile and to stop it from quivering.

Duo smiled at her, then turned his head down for a moment and then looked back up again, giving her a bigger smile.

"I'll see you when I see you."

He then gave her a sort of a casual salute of goodbye and turned around to meet the vehicle halfway at the front drive.


	24. One and Only

_(4 months later)_

"It'll be a late check-in, correct?" Minako confirmed.

"Uh-huh." Ami nodded as she placed the receiver down and completed the information on the reservation form.

"From the looks of it, seems like we'll be having a busy month ahead." Rei entered from the front door. "That's the third guest I have seen off this week who said they will be coming back. Two of whom said they've placed a booking already."

"Yes they did and we are getting a number of calls and emails too." Ami smiled proudly as she browsed through the reservation sheets for the next 3 months.

Minako moved closer to Ami's computer and pondered out loud, "I'm pretty sure Haruka will flip if they will have to cover for all of us again anytime during those months."

Rei went up to Ami's work area and peered at the computer, "That's still fairly manageable. They should experience covering for us during those months when we are at full capacity."

"What's the commotion?" Makoto's voice crept from behind.

The three other girls almost jumped in surprise.

"Our guests might get the wrong idea seeing you three huddled like that in front of the computer." Makoto giggled.

"R-right!" Ami stammered, her cheeks started to turn pink with the thought of such embarrassment.

"I'll be going to the market. We're running low on a couple of spices." Makoto informed as she stepped down from the reception and changed to her outdoor sandals.

"Ah, Mako-chan!" Ami called, "We have one guest today who has asked for a _Kaiseki._"

"Alright. I'll add that up to the list then." Makoto nodded, her eyes turned upward as if to make a mental note in her head.

"Ok, I'll be going now."

The three girls acknowledged and then waited for a few seconds after she had left before they moved closer to each other again.

"Do you think she knows?" Rei asked almost in a whisper.

Ami shook her head lightly and in the same tone replied, "I don't think so."

* * *

><p><em>(Sometime late that afternoon)<em>

Ami was just finishing her day's work when the phone at the reception table rang. She picked it up and greeted the person at the other end, not long after her lips curved to a soft smile.

"Are you allowed to make personal calls while at work? Not to mention an international one?"

"Ah, but this is work related." The person at the other end replied.

Ami can almost imagine his green eyes looking slyly at her.

"No need to worry Mr. Client, sir. Everything is going as arranged."

"Very well. That's nice to hear. Our guest has traveled long and far to make that stop, although…we can only do as much."

Ami smiled, "I think this time around, we'll get good results."

Trowa gave her an amused snort.

"Well then, since you pointed out that personal calls are not allowed during work hours, I'll be calling again when I'm off."

"Are you out of your mind?" Ami protested, but had kept her voice low. "It'll be 12 midnight in this part of the globe by then."

"I know."

If smirking produces any sound, she was definite he had just made one.

* * *

><p><em>(Later that evening)<em>

Makoto counted each dish to make sure everything in the _Kaiseki _is complete.

"Liquor, appetizer, sashimi, clear soup, grilled fish, steamed veggies, hot pot, salad, steamed rice, miso soup, pickles and dessert." she nodded to herself, happy.

Just then, Minako entered the kitchen. "Mako-chan…"

Makoto turned and was surprised to see her with such an apologetic look on her face.

"Mako-chan…huge favor. Just for tonight, can you be the one to serve the _Kaiseki_ to our guest? Rei and I are quite tied at the dining area…"

Makoto laughed, "You're looking all so sorry because of that?"

Minako smiled weakly.

"No prob. I'll handle this one." she held Minako by the shoulders and turned her around to face the door. "You go attend to the other guests."

"We'll make it up to you." Minako winked over her shoulder as she exited the kitchen.

"It's fine, silly." Makoto chuckled.

* * *

><p>Makoto carried the first batch of dishes to the room at the end of the corridor where the guest who had asked for the <em>Kaiseki<em> is waiting. She knelt outside the door of the room and lowered the tray on the floor, politely making her presence known to the person inside. She slid the door open and entered, carrying the tray with her. A paper divider stood between the door and the main room and she needs to make a turn to the left to be able to see the guest. Soonest she did, her hands had instinctively gripped the handles of the tray.

"Don't you just admire my ability?"

She exhaled slightly to a chuckle. "I've been had, it seems…"

Duo stood up and helped her with the tray but she moved it slightly away.

"No you don't. Go on and sit."

He raised an eyebrow and held his lips tight to stop himself from grinning, wondering if she was this commanding with their other guests.

Makoto laid each dish on the table with proper courtesy as she would have done with any other guest.

She should be a bit upset by now with the fact that her friends had set her up, and she should also be nervous too that Duo is suddenly in front of her, appearing without warning. But her heart was surprisingly calm. She wasn't sure if the past 4 months that she spent thinking things over had actually helped.

"You're here for work?" she asked.

Duo shook his head. He was obviously still keeping himself from grinning.

Makoto eyed him.

"I just took a short detour on my way back to find out something."

She knew then what he meant and where the conversation will lead to. Her mind is clear now; she'll finally be able to put a definite answer this time.

"Which is?" she asked, pretending not to know.

"Do you think you might ever love me back?"

Her heart jumped. She didn't expect him to be _**that**_ direct. But she had to admit, she was overjoyed.

Too overjoyed that she was only able to say, "…what?"

"Stop making me repeat myself! It's bad for my health!"

"Then what makes you think I don't?"

"Do you?"

"Well…" she teased.

"You're driving me crazy, you know that...?" he dipped his head in defeat.

"I know. And you love me."

Duo looked up then. And when his eyes had rested on hers, he saw his answer even before she replied.

"And I'll simply say, I love you too."

* * *

><p><strong>THE END<strong>

* * *

><p><em>AN: That's it! Hope you enjoyed this fic. ^_^_

_Plugging: The 2nd half of the story is also inspired by the song **One and Only **by Adele (for both pairings), hence the title of the last chapter. _

_Thank you to all the readers who patiently followed through till the end. I appreciate it all! _


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